Unrequited Love
by vampire-lestat
Summary: The world is about to end. Loki is going to resurrect the evil dragon, Jormmungand, using the power from Serena's newborn child. The scouts need to invoke the spirits of their planets, and Serena finds herself in conflict with her mother, Queen Serenity
1. Introduction

Well, I'm excited. Why am I excited? Because, finally, after months, I updated a new chapter. This story is going on two years in the making. I can't say that I have thought of something so much for such a long period of time. I feel really badly for the people who like the story, and want more, but never really get it. Well, I have to be honest here in saying that my chapters are quite long, so it isn't so bad. But anyway, that's besides the point. Again, I want to thank you for reading, especially to those, if anybody, that actually checked back time and time again to see a new chapter. I'm not dead, and I actually have about ten pages of the next chapter written, so it may not be many more months before I update again. Actually, I'm going to try to get my own web-space, because I could do regular updates on my progress, which might cause me to write faster. Also, I have a few pictures, well, drawings I would like you to see. A good friend of mine did a few drawings for me, so I would like to show them off. Also, I thought it would be neat if I could make the songs I use in the story available. This story would probably make a much better movie than a book, because movies get to have soundtracks. But, through the magic of the internet, hopefully I can make that happen, without many lawsuits, of course. Anyway, take care. Thank you for reading, and PLEASE email me about the story: love it, hate it, think it needs changing, whatever. I want feedback, desperately.

By the way, I seemed to have failed to do this in the past, so I'll proceed to do it now. Sailor Moon and all similar likenesses are owned and copyrighted to their respective owner, Ms. Naoko Takeuchi. The only thing I claim ownership of are the characters I created solely for this story, and the story itself.


	2. Nightmares

**Chapter One - Nightmares**

-I used to dream...when I was human. I miss it terribly.

Sailor Moon looked around the room. She felt a cold and unyielding darkness in all directions.  
  
It was a small room; the walls seemed to shift back and forth, almost like they were alive, as if they were breathing. The air was thick, and it smelled of sulphur. She felt the darkness surge in one spot. She turned to face it, and saw the shape of a woman, partially illuminated by what looked like a glowing skull.  
  
"Sailor Moon. Welcome to my Nega-verse." The light from the skull suddenly intensified, and the woman became entirely visible. She had long red hair, the colour of blood. Her hand, the nails on her fingers resembling talons, gripped a twisted staff with an orb floating above it.  
  
"You're...you're Queen Beryl!" Sailor Moon said quietly. A smile crept across the dark one's face, her fangs glinting sadistically. It was then that Sailor Moon noticed something next to the woman. "Yes. And of course," the woman said, "you remember Prince Darien."  
  
The horrible realization hit Sailor Moon as she noticed that the figure next to Beryl was Prince Darien. Darien, her beloved from eons ago, was kneeling at Queen Beryl's side, kissing her hand; that ugly, twisted hand.  
  
A great despair filled Sailor Moon's heart. Her friends were gone, killed by Beryl's henchmen, the Earth was covered in the same darkness that filled this room, and her one true love was at the arm of her most dreaded enemy. That enemy had destroyed her entire civilization on the moon centuries before, and had ultimately caused the death of her mother and their way of life, setting civilization back hundreds of years; bringing humanity to it's knees.  
  
Beryl looked down at the dark prince. "Prince Darien. I want that Silver Crystal NOW!" Darien's eyes opened swiftly, and he rose to his feet. "Of course my Queen," he responded. He turned his head towards Sailor Moon. "Sailor Moon," he said, "It's been sweet."  
  
Suddenly, he was flying through the air towards her, his hand un-sheathing his sword, swinging it out to slice the air Sailor Moon had been occupying before she rolled out of the way. "Darien, No," she cried out in horror. The darkness was scraping at her body. She could feel its coldness trying to absorb her warmth, trying to eradicate the light it felt from her and her crystal. The look of coldness on Darien's face, however, was more devastating. He just stared at her with those eyes, eyes that had once only been filled with love and passion.  
  
It was all Sailor Moon could take. She had to save him. They belonged together. 'My crystal worked before,' she thought, 'maybe it will work again. I have to try.' She held her Crescent Moon Wand towards him and cried, "Moon Healing Activation!" Pure radiant light poured forth from the Silver Crystal set in the wand, the very embodiment of love in the universe. Darien was surrounded by it, and Sailor Moon pushed the light as hard as she could, knowing that it would heal him, and bring him back to her.  
  
However, Darien remained unchanged. She heard Queen Beryl laughing from the darkness. "It's no use." She said, still laughing. "Not even your crystal can break the spell I cast."

Despair once again gripped Sailor Moon's heart. Darien still stared at her with cold eyes. He was still poised to strike her down, as if she were his most dreaded enemy. "He is mine," Queen Beryl said, her words cutting into Sailor Moon's heart worse than Darien's sword could ever do, "Now, and Forever."  
  
And with that, Darien leapt at Sailor Moon, but she couldn't roll away this time. Her love was lost, and she couldn't get him back. She would rather die than live with that. Darien came at her, and she expected him to kill her then and there. She felt the flat of his sword hitting her hand, knocking her wand away from her, and knocking her to the ground.  
  
She lay there, looking up towards her wand, reaching desperately towards it, as if it were her only salvation. The darkness around her seemed to swell, as if it were truly alive. It once again began its assault on her body, scratching her with icy claws. She heard Queen Beryl laughing softly, and her final words rang through her ears. "He is mine, now and Forever."  
  
Serena was screaming. The darkness was still around her, pressing down. She knew that she couldn't last much longer. Serena reached out and pushed against the darkness. Somehow, she could feel it now, it had changed: she could get a hold of it. She grabbed it with both hands and pulled in opposite directions with all her strength.  
  
Serena heard a loud rip and she found herself suddenly free of the smothering darkness. She was panicking. She was breathing heavily and screamed as she scrambled to her feet, taking a fighting position. Her heart was beating wildly as she scanned the room.  
  
She couldn't see Beryl or Darien anywhere. The room was dark, but it wasn't the same room. She relaxed her body slightly and slowly moved around the room: a chair in the corner next to a desk, a painting on the wall, the large pane glass doors leading out onto a patio. Serena realized suddenly that this was her apartment, and that the dream had been just that - a dream.  
  
Serena grabbed the chair and pulled it away from the desk. She sat down on the edge of the chair and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands.  
  
Her chest hurt. Her heart was still beating rapidly, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She thought she heard someone laughing, but it was probably just the ringing in her ears. 'It was so real,' she thought. She started to calm down, realizing that Queen Beryl had been dead for over ten years now. Besides, it was only a dream.  
  
After she got her breath back, she stood up and moved towards the patio door, hoping to get some fresh air. She pulled the door to the side as quietly as possible, but she paused for a moment and glanced back towards the bed before she stepped out. She stared at the figure lying peacefully next to the empty spot she had only recently been occupying.  
  
'Darien,' she thought as she breathed a sigh of relief. She watched as he snorted loudly and rolled over, away from her and towards the wall. She gave a quiet little laugh at her sleeping sweetheart and laughed some more as she noticed the two tattered pieces of blanket lying on top of Darien.  
  
'I'm so glad we got through that,' she thought as she stepped out of the room and onto the patio. 'I didn't know if we were going to make it.'  
  
Serena carefully made her way towards the railing, cautiously stepping over pots filled with the roses she had planted early on in the spring. They were in full bloom now, she could tell, even though they were closed up to protect themselves against the cold of the night.  
  
She carefully avoided them as to not prick herself on the many thorns protruding from the stems, although she longed for the silky feeling of the petals brushing against her skin. As she stepped over them, surrounded by their deep aroma, she experienced in that moment a complete and wonderful sense of calm.  
  
She reached the railing and, resting her hands on it, looked out over the city. Serena truly believed that Tokyo was one of, if not the most, beautiful city on Earth. Their apartment building sat on the outskirts of the city. Serena had wanted to live outside the city, even though Darien argued with her. He thought that because they both worked in the city, and her family lived in a rural area inside city limits, that they should keep his old apartment room.

But Serena wanted to get away from all the noise and traffic. She may think that the city is beautiful, but there was no denying that it was still a city, with all the busyness of the people there. It truly was a city that never slept, and Serena could never really belong somewhere that wouldn't allow her the sleep she needed.

Serena watched as the lights from cars moved silently through the darkness, even at this hour of the night. The city's many lights shone beautifully, glittering brightly and lighting up the few clouds hovering high above. The light from the full moon shone through the sprawling clouds, adding to the mystery and grandeur of the already majestic city.  
  
Serena sighed wistfully as she looked up at the moon, smiling slightly as she did. The moon always made her smile. Nothing seemed more romantic and magical as the moon did, and she believed it had nothing to do with her connection with it. Then again, maybe it did.  
  
Serena sometimes wondered about her life on the moon. She really had very little memory of it, remembering only those fragmented memories shown to her by her mother's spirit before she had battled Beryl for the last time. From what Luna and Artemis told her, though, she knew it had been wonderful and happy time, and that she and Darien had been blissfully happy. At least she knew how that felt. She and the girls never really did discuss their former lives in the Silver Millennium. She guessed that it didn't matter to any of them anymore.  
  
In any case, she knew she didn't like to think about the past, because the past was behind them, and the future was what mattered now. All she knew was that for her entire life, the moon remained the ultimate symbol of love for her. The way that the light from the full moon poured down over everything, giving it a soft and warm glow...it always brought tears to her eyes. For a moment, the smell of the roses once again filled her senses, and the beauty of the city and the moon were breathtaking.  
  
She always enjoyed moments like these. How could she not? She was crying now, but she had always loved to cry. She never understood what it was about crying that made her feel so good. She was a pregnant woman, and her emotions had always tended to be a little raw. Maybe it was the quiet little part of her that was desperate for attention. Technically, that made her a crybaby, but at least she was a crybaby by her own choice. She had a theory that everybody, every single human being, loved pity. They craved it, they need it, and they would do anything for it. And Serena knew she was certainly no exception.  
  
Serena sighed and looked down at the city again. 'Serena' she thought to herself, 'you think too much.'  
  
She could see almost all of Tokyo from here. Darien had been right when he suggest living in his apartment until they could afford to buy a house. They had saved a lot of money, especially from their wedding gifts, but Darien had wanted to wait until she found a permanent teaching job in the city before they made a decision. She was in college now, and she was almost finished her bachelor of education, which is enough to teach elementary, anyway. She wanted to teach History as a college professor, but this would be enough until she could upgrade her license.  
  
But about the house, she knew he was right. She had been rather stubborn about it, and that crybaby in her had made its appearance too many times to count, but she knew he was right. She would never admit it to him though. She may be a crybaby, but she definitely wasn't stupid.  
  
She just wanted so desperately to have their house and be in it before the baby was born.  
  
Serena looked down and rubbed her swollen belly. A smile crept across her face as she felt the baby moving inside her, completely without patience it seemed, just as she suspected. She realized suddenly that she knew she wouldn't mind teaching little children. She was always fond of them, and if she could put up with Rini, Serena knew she could take care of any kid.  
  
'Rini,' she thought.  
  
Years ago, not long after Serena had defeated Queen Beryl in the final battle, a small child, literally falling out of the sky, had shown up along with a new enemy. This child, among other things, had actually hypnotized Serena's family into believing she was their "cousin" Rini that had visited the previous year. After she drove Serena nuts looking for the Silver crystal, and the Nega-verse had made dozens of attempts at kidnapping the girl, the truth was revealed.  
  
This child Rini, was actually Serena's and Darien's daughter, come from the future to be protected from the power of the Nega-moon by Sailor Moon and the Sailor scouts. Needless to say, Serena and Darien were shocked. Then, in the middle of all that, Serena had traveled to the future to confront herself. The biggest shocker of all, and something Serena still hadn't come to terms with, is that she had become the Queen of the Earth.  
  
However, she didn't have time to deal with it then, because a dizzying amount of drama and fighting occurred that left her poor head spinning. Eventually, Serena, with a little help from Rini, defeated the monster behind the whole ordeal. During all of this, Serena had actually grown attached to the little rugrat. But, Rini didn't belong in their time, and Serena had to suffer seeing her go back to the future.  
  
Rini came back again later on, to be trained, only to leave once again, this time for good. Her duties as the heir to the throne of the Earth became too important for her to ignore anymore.  
  
Serena laughed out loud suddenly. If anybody had told Serena's junior high teachers that she was going to become the Queen of the Earth, she was sure they would have died laughing. The concept seemed ridiculous to her even now, after she had seen it with her own eyes. But, that may be why Serena took so much interest in History afterwards. She was very interested in learning about previous rulers and how they had come into power.  
  
Of course, there had never been a period of time in recorded history where one person, a woman at that, had ruled the entire planet. But there were instances in history where someone completely unexpected had taken leadership of vast empires, and had done an incredible job.  
  
All of this meant nothing now though. Serena realized in her studies that if anything has been proven in the past, it's that anything can happen, even when it seems completely impossible. What mattered was her life now, and right now, Serena was pregnant, and it could only be Rini that she was carrying. She was very excited to see her daughter again, and to hold her in her arms.  
  
Serena suddenly remembered the horrible nightmare she had been having before she woke up. A sudden gust of wind chilled her, and she made her way back to the patio doors. She was once again surrounded by the smell of the roses, but the seemed not to smell as refreshing as they did before. In fact, they almost seemed to choke the air around her. 'To much of a good thing, I suppose."  
  
She closed the door behind her and crept past the bed, past the still figure of Darien as he snored loudly and undisturbed, and made her way to the bathroom. She turned on the light and looked at herself in the mirror. Even after rolling around in her sleep, her hair was still in the same style it always was, two pigtails tied up in "meatballs". She smiled and looked back at the sleeping Darien. Meatball-head had been his nickname for her, and oh how she had hated it until, of course, she realized how much she loved him. Now, the name always brought a smile to her face.  
  
Serena had won back Darien from Beryl, not with her crystal, but with the power of their love for each other. It was obviously stronger than anything she knew of, and it was that love, combined with the power and love of her friends, focused through her crystal that put an end to Beryl. Even after all this time, and so many different enemies, she didn't believe that at any time afterwards she was more powerful. Every other time she defeated an enemy, whether she was fighting for her friends, her husband, the world, or even her daughter, she hadn't been as focused or as powerful.  
  
She splashed some water on her face, dried it off and reached for the light, but she hesitated before she turned it off. She turned to see her profile in the mirror, and rubbed her swollen belly once again and smiled.  
  
She reached for the light switch again, turned off the light and tiptoed back to the bed. Serena climbed under the covers and snuggled up to Darien, putting her arms around his waist. 'Everything is so wonderful,' she thought. 'After everything we've been through, so many years of fighting, it all seems worth it.'  
  
Serena had to give credit to Beryl, though. Had she not broken free of her prison created by Queen Serenity, Serena would have probably never fallen in love with Darien, or met any of her friends, for that matter. Of course, had Queen Beryl not attacked to Moon kingdom in the first place a thousand years ago, her mother would not have died and the peaceful reign of the Moon would have lasted much longer, possibly indefinitely.  
  
Whatever the case, Serena had no regrets. She realized a long time ago that the bad has to be taken with the good; otherwise insanity may ensue.  
  
Serena quickly glanced around the room, and noticed her locket lying on her nightstand. She stared at it for a moment, then reached over and picked it up. She pulled it in close to her face so she could see it in the dark, and she traced her finger along the designs of the cover. She felt around the bottom of the locket, unlatched the clasp and carefully lifted up the cover.  
  
Inside the locket, placed neatly in the hollow in the centre was a crystal about the size of a large marble. Although extraordinarily beautiful, this crystal was quite different from any other. This crystal had the power to shape the destiny of the universe. An incredible artefact it was, and Serena had used it on many occasions to defeat her enemies. The crystal acted almost like an amplifier, intensifying the powers of love and friendship. It was more useful in the spiritual healing of others; the negation of negative energy in others. However, if necessary, it could destroy that energy that could not be transformed or healed.

There had been many instances where this had been the only choice. It was a difficult decision to make, because Serena ran the risk of depleting her own life energy in the use of it. When it came to destroying energy, Serena almost always needed to call on the other Sailor Scouts to lend her their power, both to preserve her own life energy, and to defeat the enemies who were too strong for her by herself.

In all honesty, there were times that Serena realized how ridiculous the notion of "pure love" and the "powers of love and friendship" really was. She had been a teenage girl, after all and despite all her hopes, her dreams had been crushed far too often for the whole thing not to seem a little suspicious. What Serena truly believed about love, though, was that it evoked such a sense of protection, digging deep through all modern day civilization a person holds in them to the very basic emotions humans have. What animal on Earth was more dangerous than a mother protecting her young? Serena wondered idly for a moment if that was the way she truly looked at the world? Did she consider humanity her children?

It was moments like this that Serena began to wish she had never begun to think about all of it. It bothered her infinitely, for when she did think of her role in this war with the Nega-Verse, she couldn't help but think of herself as the "Mother of All Humanity", and that notion was so ridiculous to her she all but laughed out loud. She would want to laugh, but truly she was hurt by her pride, or at least, her desperate, seemingly irrational need to be proud of everything she did.

Lately, she had been trying to develop her powers more so that she wouldn't have to be dependant on her friends so much, not because she wanted to prove she could defend herself alone, but simply because she knew that it was foolishness to believe that her friends would always be there. Try as hard as they may, there would be times when they just wouldn't be able to rescue her in time, and now that Serena would have another life depending on her, one that was so close to her heart of hearts, she had to have the power to do without the other scouts if need be.

Serena closed the locket, hesitating for a moment before setting it back on the nightstand. Her gaze shifted from her locket to a small picture frame resting quietly under the shade of her lamp. Inside the frame was a picture of her and her friends, taken at Raye's temple on the day of her wedding. She was only 18 when she and Darien were married, and still in college. She smiled as a random memory of the day she bought her wedding dress came to her mind.

Serena had skipped her psychology course that day, Amy had flown back all the way from New York for the weekend, and Mina had cancelled a TV appearance just to come back to help her pick out her dress. They spent the entire day hopping from store to store, all the while the girls were desperately trying to convince Serena that she was not overweight, and every dress she tried on did not make her look huge.

_Ah, my friends, _Serena thought wistfully to herself. Her friends were everything to her, except for Darien, of course. They had all met within a few weeks of Serena discovering that she was Sailor Moon. Whether it was a coincidence or not they decided not to question. In Serena's experience, it was better to leave well enough alone. The point was, they had all met and become the best of friends, and if it was no coincidence, then Serena would be forever grateful to the Powers That Be for bringing them together.

Serena thought of her friends as her eyes drifted across the picture.

Amy, or Sailor Mercury, was the first of the other scouts Serena met when she transferred into her school. She was about Serena's height, with shoulder length black hair, soft blue eyes, and a warm smile. She was one of the "smart kids", in fact, she was _the_ smart kid: a computer geek and a bookworm that was constantly at the very top of every academic listing. Serena met her when a monster from the Nega-verse attacked her computer school. She was also the first of the scouts to leave Tokyo in pursuit of a normal life.

Amy had always wanted to be a doctor. Her Mom was a doctor, a paediatrician, in fact, and Amy always admired her for the way she helped so many sick children. It was a dream of hers to become a paediatrician herself, so she could help the sick needy herself. Because of her grades, she was offered a place in a school abroad. She had declined it once before, when Rini had first appeared, because the sailor scouts needed her help. But after she finished high school, and Tokyo had been blessedly free of any attacks from Nega-monsters, it was an easy decision for her to finally start her training.

It was still a hard moment, though, for all of the girls. They were so used to seeing each other all the time, so used to hanging around each other all the time, that they had difficulty letting go. For the first few months, Amy would either fly home almost every weekend, or one, if not all, of the girls would fly to Germany to visit her. But as time went on, and her studies became more and more involved, her visits became more and more sparse. The girls understood, though; they had their own lives to worry about.

As soon as Amy graduated, top of the class, of course, she had begun her practicum in a hospital in Tokyo. The girls were happy to have Amy around again, but she was so busy, they didn't see much of her. After a few years, Amy had been offered a very lucrative position as Head of the Paediatrics Division at the New York Hospital in the U.S. She had been hesitant about moving so far away, but it didn't take much convincing. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and she was glad she accepted.

Serena's gaze moved to the girl standing next to Amy. Raye, or Sailor Mars, was a little taller then Serena, but with her taste for high heels, Serena was never sure how tall she really was. Her long black hair fell below her waist; her eyes were light brown, but they almost appeared red at times. Serena had met Raye at a temple on Cherry Hill. Even before she found out she was Sailor Mars, Raye had a special power; she was psychic.

Raye could read fire, from which she could determine anything from locations of people to energy spikes caused by the Nega-Verse. She could sense things that no normal person could ever sense, a person's emotions, for example. And she could direct her psychic energy into an attack that she jokingly called a "spell"; in any case, this attack could stun any opponent for a few moments.

Raye was also the girl Serena fought the most with. Their fights were mostly staring contests, and usually ended with both of them sticking their tongues out at each other. She guessed that their personalities just clashed at times. Beyond that, though, Raye could be hotheaded at times. She was usually the one that pushed Serena when she didn't want to go on. She challenged Serena when she needed to be reminded of what they were fighting for.

Raye lived at the Hikawa Temple on Cherry Hill, which was actually where Serena's wedding pictures were taken. It was a beautiful, peaceful place; at least, it was when Raye wasn't fighting with her Grandfather. Raye's grandfather, the official owner of the temple, was a funny old man. He had raised Raye by himself when Raye's parents died, and he cared very deeply about her. As for her parents, Raye never talked about them. Serena only recalled asking her about them once, and she had been so unresponsive, Serena assumed it was something she just didn't want to talk about, so she let the subject drop.

Raye still lived at the Temple. She had gone to college with Serena, and was now a nurse at the Tokyo hospital, but she continued to run the temple when her grandfather was unable to do it anymore. Now, with his ailing health, and her long hours at the hospital, Serena didn't really see much of Raye. It did seem like Raye spent more time by herself, doing God-only-knows what, and Serena was growing more and more concerned about her, but she knew Raye could take care of herself, and if she ever needed someone to talk to, she was sure Raye knew she could talk to her anytime.

Again, Serena's attention shifted to the photo, her eyes hovering over the figure of Darien, momentarily loving his white tuxedo, and the red rose pinned to his lapels. His eyes were closed; he was terrible for keeping his eyes open during photos. But it was okay, because the smile spread across his face made him look so handsome. Serena tried to skip looking at herself, but she was just too self-conscious to do it.

She hated looking at her own wedding pictures because she was scared she would ruin the memory somehow by being too critical of herself. But she knew deep down she could never do it. Her dress was beautiful, and she always looked amazing standing next to Darien. He had some sort of glow that radiated out around him, making others around him glow themselves. She looked so happy to be with him, and she knew that feeling now every time she looked into his eyes.

Serena looked to the girl standing to her left. She was tall, taller even than Darien. Her eyes were a deep emerald green, and her long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. Serena met Lita, or Sailor Jupiter, when she was transferred into her school, just as Amy had. Lita had been transferred from her old school for fighting. Lita was an expert at martial arts, and she had something of a short fuse. She was very defensive, but she was just misguided. Lita was actually very protective of those she cared about. She had always just over-reacted to a given situation.

For Serena, it had been friendship at first sight with Lita. Everybody knew Serena had a penchant for food, even before she was pregnant, and Lita was definitely the best cook in Tokyo, at least in Serena's opinion. Lita loved cooking, even more than she loved practicing her martial arts. But what really made her happy was seeing people enjoy her food. She liked eating the food herself, but nothing made her happier than seeing other people enjoy it, so she immediately took a liking to Serena, who would have liked nothing more than to eat her food forever.

Lita had gotten a job at a nice little restaurant in downtown Tokyo as head chef. It was an upscale restaurant, and Serena was more than a little broke from "visiting" Lita more often than not. Lita seemed happy there, and the restaurant enjoyed higher sales than ever because of her, but she always wanted to open her own restaurant. A couple of months ago, she used up her savings and took out a bank loan and bought a little place of her own where she could open her much desired restaurant.

The place was a dump. Serena cringed just thinking about the work they all put into bringing the place up to snuff. She laughed to herself silently, thinking about the complaining she did when they were renovating the place. It was a lot of work, but it paid off, the place looked great. Lita still had a few details left to take care of, like hiring her staff and choosing a final draft of a menu, but she assured all of them that her grand opening would be any day now.

And the last girl in the photo was the most recognizable. The great, the talented Mina, or Sailor Venus, was a true celebrity. Mina was actually the first of the girls to become a Sailor Scout. She became a Sailor Scout about a year before Luna discovered Serena was Sailor Moon. But instead of going by Sailor Venus, she was known as Sailor V. With her long, blond hair, her

Serena remember when the hype around Sailor V first started. It started with a rumour that Sailor V was a member of a secret division of the Metropolitan Police that was dedicated to fighting alien invaders. Serena thought that the rumour was nothing but just that, but she knows know that it wasn't aliens she was fighting, it was monsters from the Nega-Verse.

But that didn't really matter to her then. Sailor V was a star. She had comic books, cartoons, and live-action movies. She was the media's darling, and everybody loved her. Then, when Sailor V joined Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Scouts, becoming Sailor Venus, she fell out of the media's sight, becoming, instead, a "normal" teenage girl. But Serena suspected that Mina's time in the lime light affected her more than any of them could guess.

Mina finished high school, but as soon as Serena, Amy and Raye went to college and Lita got her job as a chef, Mina began working on her acting career. She landed roles in several small plays throughout the city, and it seemed like her career was about to take off when she was "discovered" by an agent for a huge record company. Apparently, he had been a big fan, and the second Mina performed the lead role in the musical "The King and I", she was signed to a record label.

Her career was a smashing success throughout Japan. Her first album reached the number one spot after only a few short months, and it stayed there for a record thirty-seven weeks. By the time Serena graduated from college, Mina had completed her first tour, her first album went double platinum, and the release of her second album solidified her singing career.

In the past year, Mina and her band travelled to the U.S., where sales of her second album were starting to pick up. Mina was so excited; she decided to tour the States to help sales and her shot at worldwide fame. Now, her second single is climbing the charts, and it's rumoured that she has a shot to appear on the big screen alongside Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp.

Mina laughs it all off when she's with Serena and the girls. She never let the fame get to her; she's still as humble as she always was, but she still has her glam moments. The funniest part about the whole thing to Serena is the way Mina acts when they go out in public. Because she's so popular, she has to go out in disguise. She puts her hair up in a bun and puts on an oversized baseball cap, she wears old, baggy clothes, and she puts on these huge, purple sunglasses that cover half of her face.

Mina loves to buy the girls extravagant presents. When she finished her tour in America, she brought home presents from Tiffany's in New York for all of them. She offered to buy the store for Lita to open her restaurant, but Lita refused, determined to make it on her own. For their wedding present, Mina bought Serena and Darien a honeymoon to Hawaii. When she found out Serena was pregnant, she set up a college fund for Rini and bought tons of baby stuff for her. Serena tried to protest, but Mina wouldn't have any of it. She's always saying that she has more money than she knows what to do with, and she can't think of anything better to do with it than take care of her friends.

Serena sighed, looking from girl to girl in the photo, revelling in the fact that she had the best friends anybody could ever ask for. She had always been afraid that being Sailor Scouts, she and the girls would never be able to have their own lives, would never be able to do anything besides fighting evil for the rest of their lives. It made her so happy that they were all out there living their dreams and helping people and making people happy. She couldn't think of a better way to live your life than to spread happiness to everybody around you.

She rolled over and wrapped her arms around Darien. He let out a long, happy sigh and hugged her back. Serena smiled, and slowly began to fall asleep. She needed her rest, because she and the girls were meeting up for a long day of eating and shopping. Serena slowly drifted into unconsciousness, thinking of her friends. But they weren't just her friends, they were her family, and she loved each and every one of them.

Moments later, she was sleeping soundly. The room remained quiet, with only the sound of light breathing.

Suddenly, a light emanated from the Silver Crystal. As it intensified, the entire room lit up, and yet Serena's face remained unchanged. Sparks of electricity danced off of the locket, leaping up and swirling around the nightstand. The light disappeared as quickly as it began, and the room remained lit for a moment before the glare faded away. The room became eerily quiet, except for the echo of someone laughing.  
  
The wind was bitterly cold and blowing fiercely. There was no visibility, because the wind was picking up the snow from the ground and blowing it through the air without end. It didn't matter, though, because there was nothing to see. Nothing but enormous glaciers of ice sticking out of the ground like frozen sentinels, guarding the secret that lay in this desolate place, surrounded by several tons of ice.  
  
Deep within one of these glaciers was a frozen, forgot tomb, housing the remnants of the former ruler of the Nega -Verse. Queen Beryl had been destroyed by the power of Sailor Moon's crystal, but the evil of the Queen had been so great, and her death had been so violent, that a scar had been created in the very fabric of reality in the very spot, which she had died. For ten years, it had remained undisturbed as the layers of ice built up.  
  
Suddenly, the wind died down, and the snow settled on the ice, hiding the dark mass trapped in the ice. High in the air, the fabric of reality began to warp. The air twisted and stretched, and the figure of a man materialized from the disturbance. The tall, lean figure was wrapped in a black cloak, his face and head covered, with only his burning eyes left exposed.  
  
He turned his head towards the ground, and the wind picked up once again, but seemingly at the figure's command. The snow covering the ice was blown away, and the dark mass locked inside was completely visible to the figure. He shifted suddenly, and rose further into the air. Floating higher and higher, the figure raised his arms above his head and began to chant. The sound coming from him was completely inhuman. It shook the mountains of ice around him, but they remained undamaged.  
  
He lowered his arms towards the ground, and opened his palms slowly. His chanting became louder and more furious, and his hands began to glow with a burning light. The wind blew around him furiously, and the sound of unearthly screaming was rising over his chanting. Louder and louder his chanting became, until finally, the ice around him began to crack. A burst of flame leapt from his fingertips and scorched the cracking ice beneath him.  
  
The wind blew with a renewed fury, as if to combat the figures' assault. His cloak was whipping around wildly, but he remained unmoved. The groaning of the ice continued to grow louder, until even the figure's chanting was drowned out. The air surrounding the ice had become chaotic with the still-growing noise, which had fused into a single, ear-shattering noise.  
  
The ice beneath him slowly melted, inch by inch, until the black mass was completely uncovered. The inhuman chanting suddenly died away, and the fire from his hands went out. The echo from the noise still resonated throughout the chamber made by the assault, but the figure paid no heed.  
  
The figure slowly began to descend into the pit, and towards the mass. Landing softly, he gazed around the pit he created, as if looking for something. The only light in the chamber was that coming from his eyes, and the darkness seemed to swallow the light.  
  
Once again, he raised his arm, palm flat, and a small ball of fire appeared, lighting up the entire chamber. A small glint of light appeared from the corner of the pit.  
  
The figure's head whipped around, staring in the direction of the flash. Very slowly, he moved towards the glint. The small ball of flame remained lit, hovering silently where his hand had once been.  
  
The figure arrived at the spot the glinting had originated, and he bent down to inspect the area. He reached around in the darkness and picked up the small object there, and brought it into the light. It appeared to be a wand, with a pink handle and a golden crescent moon on the top. Four small gems were embedded near the top of the handle, and inside the crescent moon was a fixture big enough to hold an object the size of a golf ball.  
  
The man ran his hand along the edge of the crescent moon, and laughed silently. "Finally," he whispered to himself, "the Crescent Moon Wand is mine." He placed the wand beneath his cloak and, looking up out of the chasm, he once again rose into the air.  
  
He began to rise; yet suddenly he turned back towards the black mass and ceased rising. He stared at the mass for a moment; then, he once again reached into his cloak and pulled out a single rose, its petals completely black, the stem withered and brown. He hesitated for a moment, twirling it slightly in his hand, admiring the rose in its twisted beauty. He tossed it into the pit, towards the black mass and watched as it disappeared.  
  
The wind began to blow, and the snow silently began to fill the gap that had been made. The figure turned his head towards the sky, away from the black mass and the air around him began to shimmer. In a flash of blinding light, he disappeared.  
  
The wind howled furiously. The snow began to blow about once again, and slowly began filling the void, as if it meant to heal a wound that shouldn't have been made. The wind continued to blow, but it carried with it the echo of a laugh.


	3. The Good Old Days

Chapter Two – The Good Old Days 

-There were times I longed for death...now it is everywhere I turn.

"Geez Serena, you think maybe you would grow up a little in ten years!"

Raye sighed and turned away from Serena. They had met in a small café to have a light lunch while they waited for the others, and Serena wasn't having anything that resembled the word "light".  
  
"AWWWWWWW, come ON Raye. I'm eating for two now", Serena said in-between bites. There was a stack of dishes on the table next to her, and Serena tossed plate she just emptied onto the pile. Raye lowered her head, in an attempt to remain unnoticed. "Yeah, you're eating for a baby and an elephant. No normal person eats that much." Raye regretted saying it the moment the words came out of her mouth. She covered her ears with her hands and turned to face Serena in dreary anticipation.  
  
Serena had dropped the plate she had just picked up, and tears were forming in her eyes. "You mean." she said in a small voice, "I'm... FAAAAAAAAAT!!!???"  
  
The unearthly squeal had made Raye cringe. She looked around the restaurant and noticed several of the restaurant's customers had cringed as well. Raye turned her head towards Serena. The word "Fat" had now degenerated into a nonsensical wail. "WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"  
  
For a moment, Raye's hair felt like it was caught in a hurricane, blowing back wildly. "Serena, STOP That WHINING!"  
  
Serena ran out of breath, and she sat there, tears streaming down her face, gasping for air. 'Thank heavens she stopped crying,' Raye thought to herself. She noticed someone standing nearby, and looked up to see a waitress standing over her. "Miss, is everything ok?"  
  
Raye's face started glowing a deep fuchsia as she realized everybody in the restaurant was staring at her and Serena. Even some people on the street outside were peering in. Raye gave a small laugh and waved her hand dismissively, saying, "Oh she'll be fine, thank you!" The waitress looked from Raye to Serena, who still had tears streaming down her face. "Alright then," she said.

'Oh my GOD,' Raye thought, 'I couldn't be more embarrassed!!'  
  
The waitress turned to walk away, but hesitated for a moment. She reached towards the table next to her and pulled a plate off of the tray lying there. She turned towards Raye again. "Did she still want the dessert she ordered?"  
  
Serena's head snapped up, and she turned towards the waitress; the tears were still in her eyes, but they were shimmering with excitement. "Did you say dessert?"  
  
Serena leapt up in the air, waving her arms and giggling uncontrollably. She landed in her seat and grabbed the plate from the waitress, completely oblivious to the unmistakable sound of Raye's head hitting the table. The waitress just smiled and walked back towards the kitchen, laughing to herself.  
  
Raye stirred a little, and she lifted her head up from the table, but only enough to sigh loudly. 'If the others don't get here soon, I'm not going to make it,' she thought.  
  
Raye was about to attempt a conversation with Serena, when a blood-curdling scream ripped through the air. Raye leapt from her chair into a fighting stance. She whipped her head from side to side, trying to discover where the scream had come from. Instinctively, she reached for her purse lying on the table, knowing that her Power Stick was there, and that the situation may call for Sailor power.  
  
However, as she reached for her purse, a sinister thought had struck her suddenly. She turned her head to look down at Serena, who was holding a spoon towards her with a look of absolute joy on her face and her eyes twinkling brightly.  
  
"Look Raye!" she said cheerfully, "There's melted chocolate in the center of this cake."  
  
Raye's eyes slanted down as she once again turned several different shades of red. She suddenly realized why her Sailor outfit was red, so it would more often than not match her face.

"Serena," she said, her voice tinged with an odd combination of embarrassment and rage, "did you, by any chance, scream just now?"  
  
Serena, whose mouth was now full of cake, swallowed loudly and looked up at Raye. She smiled widely and put her hand behind her head. "Uh, gee, I guess I did, didn't I!"  
  
Once again, Raye was painfully aware of the eyes of every person in the room staring at her. "But Raye, there's melted chocolate in the middle." Serena said, gesturing her hands to exclaim the importance of the "melted chocolate".  
  
Raye was about to sit down again, with the small comfort of her head rushing to meet the table, when she heard several voices behind her.  
  
"...So I said, 'No, because the acceleration due to gravity acts uniformly, Wile E. Coyote wouldn't be able to jump just before the rock hit the ground. Technically, his feet aren't even touching the rock."  
  
Raye didn't need to recognize the voice to know that only Amy would argue the physics behind Looney Toons. She turned around to see Amy arguing with Lita, as Mina looked on with a smile on her face. They stopped arguing and looked towards Raye. "Hey guys! What's up?"  
  
Raye didn't care who said it, because she was too busy bowing down in front of them. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou..."  
  
Lita looked towards Mina, and then turned her head towards Amy, all the while smiling. Then she looked towards Serena, and saw her shoving what looked like cake into her mouth at superhuman speed. Lita looked down at Raye, and couldn't help but laugh. 'Raye never has been able to put up with Serena for very long,' she thought to herself.  
  
Mina leaned over to try and pick Raye up by the arm while Amy was bent down trying to console her. Lita reached over to the table next to Serena to grab some more chairs, which she now noticed was filled with a pile of dirty dishes. Once again, she looked back to Raye, who was settling into her seat with a dazed look in her eyes. Amy walked behind Lita to get to her seat, and whispered in her ear as she passed. "Hey," she said, "at least she didn't hit her!" Lita let out a small laugh and whispered back, "No. But even Raye has enough sense not to hit a pregnant woman in public."  
  
Now that they were all sitting down, and Raye looked like she was settling down, Lita asked Serena how she was feeling. "Well," she said in-between bites, "I felt kind of sick on the way here, but as soon as I saw all of this yummy food I felt way better, and I felt a little hungry, so I ordered something to snack on before dinner."  
  
Serena went back to eating, and Raye slammed her hands down on the table and stood up; her face turned a deep red and she leaned in towards Serena. "You mean to tell me THAT," she pointed towards the pile of dishes, "was only a SNACK!!??"  
  
Serena looked at the dishes, and then back to Raye. "Well," she said meekly, "They're not all mine. One of them was yours."  
  
Mina and Amy leapt up to grab Raye as she lunged across the table, her arms outstretched towards Serena; her fingers curled into talons. "Lemme go," she yelled out as they struggled to keep her down, "she needs to die now."  
  
Lita rolled her eyes. "Oh Raye, grow up." They pushed Raye down in her seat, and sat back down themselves. "Yeah," Mina said, "you can't just attack Serena every time she eats a lot. Even the Sailor Scouts couldn't last that long."  
  
Raye's face began to glow again, and she turned her head sharply towards Mina. "Well you weren't here when she swallowed a potato whole!"  
  
Amy gave a small laugh. "Raye, even Serena doesn't have a mouth that big."  
  
Serena was licking the plate clean when she heard what Amy had said. She lowered the plate slowly, and her eyes slanted down, giving her a very sinister look on her face. "And what is that supposed to mean?" Serena said, the venom in her voice nearly melting the plate.  
  
It was Amy's turn to blush now, and as she desperately tried to think of an answer, Raye, with a smug look on her face, crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back. "Now this," she said, "is going to be good."  
  
Amy had her arm behind her head and was spurting out gasps of gibberish. "So Serena," Mina asked, trying to prevent another fight, "where are Artemis and Luna?"

Serena turned her head away from Amy, who was desperately trying to apologize.  
  
"They said that they had important business to take care of, and that we should enjoy ourselves today." Amy's head was hanging in defeat, and Serena turned her head away from the table. "But, I guess we can't do that if I keep shoving food into this black hole I have for a mouth."  
  
Lita was about to step in and try to resolve the fight, when Serena burst into a fit of laughter. "Ah, come on, you guys. I was just kidding. I know I don't eat that much."  
  
Serena continued to laugh as the rest of the girls just looked back and forth between each other, deciding that it was best not to say anything else. Serena went back to eating her cake, or at least, the crumbs that had fallen on the tablecloth, and the others began to chat among themselves.

"Can I get anything for you girls?"  
  
The waitress that had been serving Serena and Raye before stood over Serena and held a small pad in her hands. Lita looked up and politely said no, and Amy and Mina both said no as well. "Actually," Raye said, "since they're not ordering anything, we'll just have the check now. We're going to try and get some shopping in."  
  
The waitress smiled and held her hand up, lifting two fingers up. "Okay," she said, "but was that going to be one check or two?"  
  
Raye looked to the pile of empty dishes, and quickly shook her head. "No, I couldn't afford to pay for her. Separate checks, please."  
  
The waitress nodded her head and walked towards the cash register. "It's a good thing Darien got that accounting job at that new firm down the road," Raye said, "cause if not, he would never be able to afford Serena's food bills." They all gave a quick laugh, and the chatter started up once again.  
  
Lita was about to stand up, when she noticed Serena was breathing heavily and sweating. "Serena," she said, a look of concern growing on her face, "are you feeling okay?" Serena lifted her hands to her forehead and leaned her elbows on the table. She looked up at Lita and smiled weakly. "Yeah," she said quietly, "I'm just a little tired, that's all..."  
  
Her voice trailed off and her face seemed to go completely blank. Her elbows suddenly went out from underneath her, and her head rushed towards the table. The dishes on the table clattered and fell over, the tea from Raye's cup spilling over the edge and splashing across the floor.  
  
The girls stopped talking and they looked down at Serena; the smiles on their faces drained away from their faces, only to be replaced with fear and concern. Time seemed to drag on, as the girls could only look on in horror as Serena slipped off of the table and onto the floor.  
  
"SERENA!" Lita leapt out of her seat and hovered over Serena. She lifted Serena and turned her onto her back. She lowered her ear to her nose to listen for breathing, as the other girls rushed over and knelt down beside her. "Oh my god," Lita whispered, "She's not breathing you guys. Somebody call a doctor."  
  
Lita leapt to her feet and looked around. The people inside the restaurant were looking at her; they hadn't moved and the looks on their faces were completely blank.  
  
"Isn't somebody going to call an ambulance?" she screamed at them. But they remained completely unchanged. Somebody was laughing now. Lita spun around to see their waitress standing in the middle of the room; her arms crossed over her chest, a smile spread across her face.  
  
"Well," she said slowly. She let her hands drop to her sides and she started walking towards Lita. "It seems that your friend there ate a little too much." She stopped about a foot away from Lita's face, and held up a small piece of paper. "I'm afraid the bill is too much for her too afford."  
  
The smile was still on her face as she leapt up into the air and hovered there only for a moment before the air around her began to shimmer. "She's going to have to pay with her life."  
  
She started to scream as her body began to twist and stretch. Her clothes shredded to nothing, revealing a black body suit with a strange symbol woven into the chest. Her hair disappeared and her skin drained of color leaving it a pasty gray. Lita's body tensed and she instinctively stretched out her arms in the hope that she could protect Serena.  
  
She looked back quickly to check on Serena. Amy was giving her mouth-to- mouth, and Mina was holding her hand. Raye wasn't to be seen, so Lita assumed she had gone off to get help. 'So,' she thought to herself, 'it's up to me to protect Serena now.' She looked back towards the waitress, who was now floating in the air; the smile was still on her face, and her eyes were burning like two flames.  
  
"Mina," Lita yelled out, suddenly unsure of her ability to fight his thing on her own, "I could use a little help here."  
  
Never taking her eyes off of her face, Mina laid Serena's hand on the floor and leapt through the air to land at Lita's side. The moment she landed, both her and Lita took a defensive stance; their bodies tensed, their arms taking a fighting position.  
  
"Alright, you piece of trash," Mina said bitterly, "You have exactly two seconds to tell us who you are and what you did to our friend!"  
  
The waitress laughed again, but she didn't move from where she was. "I have no designation." the waitress replied. "I was created for one purpose only."  
  
She floated slowly towards the ground, letting her arms drop to her sides. Her hands began to glow with energy, which formed into two long whips. Lita leaned forward, shifting her weigh on her right leg, preparing to launch herself forward. "And just what purpose is that?" Lita said through her teeth.  
  
The waitress lifted her hand to point towards the unconscious Serena. "To destroy the Moon Princess."  
  
Mina's body tensed when she heard the waitress speak. There was something about the voice that reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite place it. It was nagging at the back of her mind, but she would have to think about it later.  
  
She turned her head to look up at Lita. 'I forgot how tall she really is,' she thought to herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the waitress was getting ready to attack.  
  
Lita slowly reached her hand towards her pocket, and she twisted her head just enough that she could see Mina out of the corner of her eyes. "I think it's a good time for the Sailor Scouts to help out," she whispered, a grin forming on her face, "don't you think?"  
  
Mina couldn't help but smile too. "You bet," she replied as she reached for her own power stick.  
  
Lita thrust her arm up into the air. In her hand she held her power stick, a relic from the Silver Millennium, which allowed her to transform herself into Sailor Jupiter. "You picked the wrong group of people to mess with, lady." she said to the waitress, who was lifting her whips to attack.  
  
Lit raised the power stick high above her head. Electricity leapt from the star at the top of the stick, surrounding Lita completely. The electricity danced through the air as it raged around her body. The flurry of electricity died out as suddenly as it had appeared, and Lita stood poised to attack. She was dressed in a green sailor suit, wearing a tiara encrusted with a smooth emerald on her forehead.  
  
Lita shifted into a karate stance and tensed her body. "How dare you attack our friend!" she exclaimed.

Lita shifted into a different position as the waitress slowly moved closer. The waitress lashed out at Sailor Jupiter with one of her whips. It flew towards her in an arch, but Jupiter wasn't anywhere near it. She leapt into the air, dodging the whip and bracing her arms in front of her face.

Jupiter smashed into the waitress, and pushed herself in the opposite direction, somersaulting backwards. The waitress flew backwards and smashed into the wall behind her. The wall fell down around her, piling up and covering her completely.  
  
Jupiter sailed through the air and landed in a crouch. She knew from the throbbing pain in her arms that this wasn't going to be an easy fight. She looked back at Mina, who was watching in growing concern. Lita knew that the waitress had seen her transform; she would try to prevent any of the others from transforming and joining the fight.  
  
"Mina!" she yelled, "Now, while she's disoriented. Transform!"  
  
Mina nodded her head and held up her power stick. Ribbons of made of stars burst out of the power stick, wrapping around Mina. They tightened around her until she looked almost like a mummy. They began to disappear, and Mina appeared dressed in a uniform similar to Sailor Jupiter, only the suit was orange and there was a topaz in her tiara.  
  
Jupiter stood up and ran to join Sailor Venus, who was standing in between Serena and where the waitress was buried. Venus looked to Jupiter and then back at the rubble. "So what's the deal with this creep?" she asked. Jupiter rubbed her arms where she had collided with the waitress. "She's a toughie."  
  
The rubble shifted suddenly, and both scouts prepared to fight, but it was just a piece of the wall slipping down. Jupiter and Mina relaxed a little, but they quickly turned to check on Serena. Amy looked up at them, tears in her eyes. "I've got her breathing stabilized," she said, her voice cracking slightly, "but she's very weak. We need to get her to a hospital, now."  
  
The word "now" wasn't out of Amy's lips when the waitress burst out of the rubble, screaming in rage. She leapt towards Serena and reared her arm back, readying herself to attack. Venus flew at the waitress, lifting her leg and delivering a fierce kick to the waitress' head. The waitress went into a spin and flew towards a large glass window. She smashed through the glass, but as soon as she was outside, she shifted her weight, coming out of the spin and landing steadily on her feet.  
  
The people in the streets were gathering around the waitress, some asking if she was all right. Her arm snapped out at one of them, grabbing him by the neck. Everyone around her started screaming and running away. The man had grabbed the waitress by the arm and was trying to break her grip. Her fingers twitched and tightened; the sound of choking came from the man as his face turned blue, his eyes bulging.  
  
She twisted around to face the store, the man still in her grip, only to see a bolt of lightning flying towards her. Her body tensed as it struck her in the chest. She bent over from the impact, but she didn't loose her footing, not moving an inch. Laughing, she stood up straight, dropped the unconscious man to the ground and began to walk towards the store.  
  
Jupiter put her hands together. "You leave them out of this!" she yelled.  
  
The rod coming out of her tiara began to glow, and electricity leapt from her hands. She pulled her hands apart, and the electricity formed a ball. She pulled one arm back and threw the ball at the waitress in a perfect pitch. Once again, it struck the waitress right in the chest. She tensed just as she did before; the force from the ball blew her from the sidewalk into the street, but she remained upright, her feet digging two trenches as she flew backwards.  
  
She came to a quick stop, and, standing up rigidly, she made her way off the street towards the store. "Sailor Venus," Jupiter said, her voice tinged with anger. Venus stepped forward and raised her right arm, pointing it accusingly at the waitress. "I'm on it, Jupiter."  
  
Venus closed her eyes in concentration. The tip of her finger began to glow as she gathered energy for the blast. She braced her right arm with her left, like she was bracing a loaded gun. The energy on her fingertip grew brighter and formed two crescent moons. "Venus Crescent Beam," she shouted, the energy intensifying, "Smash!"  
  
The energy shot from her fingertip in a solid beam of light. It struck the waitress in the exact spot Jupiter's attack did. Once again, the waitress tensed her body and tried to absorb the blast, and for a moment, she managed to stay in the same spot.  
  
Venus leaned forward, her brow furrowing in anger. She screamed in blind fury, and the beam of energy intensified. The waitress moved back a little, trying to keep her footing. Venus screamed once again; the beam pulsed and blew a hole straight through the waitress's chest.  
  
"You got her!" Jupiter shouted as the waitress reached her hand towards the hole in her chest; her hand twitched wildly, her expression was that of shock.  
  
Venus' arm dropped to her side and she began to sway back and forth. Jupiter rushed over to her and grabbed her from behind to steady her.  
  
"Way to go," Jupiter said as she looked down at Venus, "You totally wrecked her!" Venus smiled and closed her eyes, but they snapped back open as she heard the waitress laughing.  
  
The two scouts looked up to see the waitress standing with her arms by her sides. The hole in her chest was bleeding fiercely. It ran down her stomach and her legs, pooling on the cement of the sidewalk. Her eyes started to glow, and the blood began to move. It swirled around her feet, and began to climb back up her legs. It collected in the space where her chest used to be.  
  
Slowly, the blood filled the hole and it became solid again, as if the hole was never there. The waitress ran her hand over her chest and breathed deeply. She lifted her arm, the energy whip appearing in her hand, and she screamed as she dashed towards Jupiter and Venus.  
  
Jupiter pushed Venus out of the way. Jupiter tried to jump out of the way, but the waitress was too fast and her whip wrapped itself around her waist. The waitress pulled back on the whip and sent Jupiter sailing through the air, only to crash into the ground, cement flying in all directions. The waitress laughed wickedly as she reared back her arm.  
  
Suddenly, small rings of fire surrounded the waitress, slicing her body and cutting the whip that held Jupiter into ribbons. The waitress wrapped her arms around herself and screamed in pain. She turned her head to see Sailor Mars standing there; her hands formed a temple, flames leapt from her fingers.  
  
"I don't know who you are or what you want," Mars said, her mouth curling into a smile, "and I really don't care!" The flames spun around her fingers as she cried out, "Mars Fire Ignite!"  
  
The flames shot out towards the waitress and struck her entire body. The flame surrounded her and formed a pillar around her body. She screamed louder than she had before and wrapped her arms tighter as if to protect herself.  
  
Mars rushed to the spot where Jupiter had hit the ground. From what Mars had seen, Jupiter was probably unconscious and definitely in need of medical attention. As she got closer to the pit she was lying in, Mars noticed her hair was standing on end. She stopped in her tracks and looked up to see the darkest, most ominous storm clouds that she had ever seen gathering above the city. She twisted to look at the waitress; the fire pillar had burnt out and she was on her knees, gasping for air.  
  
Mars looked up again at the clouds, which were now sparkling with lightning. She looked back at Jupiter, who was now climbing out of the pit, her eyes glowing brightly. She slowly raised her arms as lightning danced across the sky; Mars covered her ears as the thunder split through the air. Jupiter raised her arms, pointing them to the sky.  
  
Realizing what Jupiter meant to do, Mars turned and ran towards where Venus had landed. Once again, Mars stopped dead as she saw Venus with her arm pointing at the waitress. The air around her brimmed with energy, all centered around her outstretched arm. Mars turned herself towards the waitress, putting her fingertips together. 'Fine,' she thought to herself; 'if that's the way it's gonna be.'  
  
She closed her eyes and began to channel her energy, yet all the while thinking of how she was going to attack the monster. She knew that Jupiter and Venus were acting on fury and raw energy; that they would be attacking blindly was obvious, so Mars had to be the one who did the real damage.  
  
The monster had now recovered, and was standing in the center of the triangle the three scouts had formed. She laughed again and stretched out her arm towards Sailor Mars, the whip in her hand crackling with energy. She took a step towards her, but she found herself surrounded by some kind of force field. She looked towards the other, the one who had not transformed yet. Amy, still kneeling at Serena's side, was not transformed, but she was holding her Power Stick in her hands. A small beam of light was coming from the tip of the stick, which arched up into the air, only to come down around the waitress, surrounding her and keeping her from escaping the attack.  
  
Mars reached out with her mind to probe the beast. She reached into its mind, attempting to find out what it was.  
  
A dark and empty place was all Mars could see. The only thing that burned in the creature's mind was to kill the Moon Princess. 'Damn,' Mars thought to herself, 'I can't get anything from this thing.'  
  
Mars had at least hoped to discover what this thing was made of. She was going to attempt to destroy her by exciting the molecules her body was made of; essentially she was going to blow her up, but without knowing what she was made of, she didn't know how effective it would be. It would be fine if it didn't do much damage, but if the waitress were made of some kind of flammable material, which wasn't completely unheard of, it would be rather devastating to everyone around them.  
  
Nevertheless, Mars continued building her attack. 'Oh well,' she though, 'I'll just have to make it work.'  
  
The waitress pounded at the force field, desperately trying to escape. Amy flinched with every blow.  
  
Jupiter lowered her head to look at the waitress; the energy around Venus glowed brightly and shrank into her fingertip; the flames around Mars quickened and lashed out; and Mercury dropped her force field.  
  
Lightening ripped through the air and struck the waitress. Like the Wrath of God, the lightening bore down on her, striking her several hundred times. Venus released the energy she built up, which slammed into the waitress with the force of a small asteroid. The creature arched her back and twitched wildly.  
  
Mars reached out with her power; flames spun though the air as the molecules in the waitress' body moved faster and faster.  
  
As the assault wore on, Mercury raised her Power Stick once more around herself and Serena, praying all the while that the others would be all right.  
  
Jupiter began to sway, and the lightening died out. Venus fell to the ground, dropping her hands to catch herself. Mars' arms fell to her sides and she fell to her knees. They looked towards the waitress. It was lying on the ground, now charred completely black and smoking. It was still twitching, an after effect from the multiple electrical shocks. It slowly stopped twitching and remained still. All four of the scouts breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
Mars stood up, hobbling towards Amy and Serena. As she approached what was left of the waitress, she began to concentrate on its mind. 'I better make sure this thing is done for,' she thought to herself. Once again, she reached into the waitress' mind, searching for any signs of life.  
  
The image of a man flashed in her mind, or at least, it looked like a man. All she really saw was his dark outline, and his burning eyes. His image became more solid, but remained dark. He was in the city, hovering in the air and surrounded on all sides by buildings. Mars watched as he lowered himself towards the ground, placing his hand on the pavement. The ground grew darker, glowing with a dark energy. She saw him lift his hand as he stood up and backed away from the still glowing spot.  
  
A giant crystal ripped out of the ground growing higher and higher until the tip of the crystal reached the man's chin. He reached out and placed his hand on the tip of the crystal; he snapped it off, a piece small enough to be completely concealed in his hand, and placed it inside his robe. He turned his back on the crystal and rose into the air. The crystal started shaking, and it suddenly burst into flames. The man twisted his head back, and glared at Mars. She knew somehow that he could see her. He turned towards her and began to laugh. He reached out his hand and grabbed her by the neck.  
  
She screamed, and tried to get out of the waitresses mind, but the man held her tightly. "So," she heard him say through the fabric covering his face, "you're one of the Sailor Scouts." His fingers tightened around her neck. She clawed at his hand on her neck, unable to breathe. Dark spots began to form around her eyes.

Raye looked up into the man's face, and his eyes were still glowing, like two flames. He pulled her towards his face, lifting her off her feet. "I just want you to know," he whispered in her ear. He stroked Mars' hair lightly and ran his hand down the side of her face. He stared deep into her eyes and said, "You're all going to die."

The man threw her down to the ground and laughed wickedly as he rose into the air, turning his back to Mars. She gasped for air as he disappeared, and she found herself back in her own body.  
  
Mars opened her eyes to see a charred black hand flying towards her. She leapt up into the air to escape, but the thing grabbed her leg and flung her down into the ground. The waitress turned and began to walk, slowly, towards Serena. Jupiter struggled to get to her feet, but her legs gave out and she fell onto her face.  
  
Venus was almost unconscious. She was struggling just to open her eyes, and she barely understood what was happening. Amy had risen to her feet and she raised her arm, her power stick glimmering. She was about to transform herself, when a burst of light came from behind the waitress. She didn't have a chance to turn around. The light surrounded her; Amy covered her eyes as the waitress wailed in agony.  
  
Her entire form shuddered and she flew towards Amy, her body crumbling to dust as she spun through the air. Amy raised her arms to shield her eyes as the dust hit her body, billowing out into a thick cloud. Her hair flew back and she closed her eyes tightly. She felt the dust cover her body; it made its way into her nose and she breathed sharply, taking more of it into her lungs.  
  
She coughed furiously and breathed slowly through the sleeve of her sweater. Squinting her eyes, she waved her hand through the air, trying to get fresh air; but more importantly, trying to discover who destroyed the waitress.  
  
Seeing nothing but dust, she bent down and picked Serena up by the arms, lifting her as best she could and dragging her towards where she hoped the door was. She grunted as she pulled Serena into the light and fresh air. 'How many babies does she have in there,' Amy thought to herself as she laid Serena down on the sidewalk.  
  
She looked around for the other scouts. She could still barely see anything because of the dust that had flooded out into the street. She saw a person standing in front of her, pointing something at her.  
  
Amy couldn't make out the person's face. She nervously ran her fingers across the power stick in her hand. 'Who could it be?' Amy asked herself. 'None of the other scouts have that kind of power.' The figure lowered whatever it was holding and slowly walked towards Amy and the still unconscious Serena.  
  
Amy's mind raced as she tried to guess whom this person could be. It had been years since she had seen the outer scouts, the "evolution warriors" of Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. Why they would be here know she didn't know.  
  
The person's feet clicked loudly on the pavement as he/she began to move towards Amy. The dust settled silently around them. Slowly, the unmistakable silhouette of two long pigtails became visible, and Amy gasped.  
  
'Rini?' The figure moved closer, and Amy realized that it wasn't Rini standing in front of her. It was Sailor Moon.  
  
Sailor Moon knelt down next to the unaware Serena. She reached out her hand, lightly touching Serena's forehead. Sailor Moon smiled as she smoothed away a stray hair from Serena's forehead. She lowered her head down and kissed her in that same spot.  
  
Sailor Moon quickly stood to her feet and turned towards Amy, who was staring on in disbelief. She looked from the face of Sailor Moon, the woman standing right in front of her, down to the very same face, only it was the face of the woman lying at her feet.  
  
She looked back to Sailor Moon, who was still smiling. In her hand she held the Scepter of the Moon Kingdom, which Amy had seen time and time again in the hands of the real Sailor Moon.  
  
The false Sailor Moon winked at her and leapt into the air, over Amy's head and onto the rooftop. "WAIT!" Amy said as she ran into the street. She turned around and looked up to see where 'Sailor Moon' had gone, but she had disappeared completely.  
  
Amy lowered her head and she stared straight ahead, completely baffled by what had just happened. She jumped suddenly as someone laid their hand on her shoulder. Amy turned her head to look at Mars; or rather Raye, now that she had transformed back into her normal self.  
  
"What was that?" Raye whispered in her ear. "I haven't got a clue." Amy replied. Amy looked down at Serena, who was still lying there, unconscious. She knelt down next to Serena and put her head up next to her mouth. "Her breathing is stabilized," she said, looking back up at Raye, "but she's very weak. We need to get her to a hospital."  
  
Smoke still poured from the building, and Raye looked around to the several holes in the cement. 'I've never seen a battle cause so much damage,' she thought to herself. She noticed that several people were peering out of a window across the street. She looked around at the other buildings on the street and saw people staring out each and every window. There were people peering around the corners of buildings. Out of the cars, which had piled up in both directions people were hanging, squinting their eyes, trying to see through the smoke. 'Well at least they didn't see me revert back to normal,' Raye thought.  
  
A thought struck her as she heard sirens growing louder. She swung her head back and forth, desperately looking for Venus and Jupiter. She ran towards where she had seen Jupiter fall, but she couldn't see anybody. She couldn't see Venus either. 'I hope they're all right,' Raye thought to herself.  
  
Raye rubbed the back of her arms and turned to look at Amy, who was now talking to the medics, who were leaned over Serena attaching an oxygen mask and preparing to lift her onto a stretcher. She thought of the man in her vision. 'Who was he?' she thought to herself. 'I've never felt such a terrible power.' She could feel his fingers around her throat, even though her encounter had only occurred in her mind. She thought of what he had said to her.  
  
'I just want you to know, you're all going to die.' Raye shuddered as her blood ran cold. He had said it so casually, his voice even tinged with what sounded like excitement. Sure, people had wanted the Sailor Scouts dead before, but they were more enraged than happy about doing it.  
  
Raye was suddenly aware that Amy was standing next to her, talking about Serena and the ambulance. "...say it's some sort of food poisoning, but it is easily curable. It's the baby they're worried about. They're taking her to the hospital now, and I think one of us should go. Raye?" Amy placed her hand on Raye's arm and squeezed it lightly.  
  
"Raye," she said with concern in her voice, "are you all right?" Raye smiled and placed her hand on Amy's. "Yeah, I'm ok," she replied. Raye shook her head as the laugh of the man in her vision still rang though her head. She smiled and looked over at the paramedics, who were now lifting Serena into the ambulance. "Look, I'll be fine" she said to Amy, "you go with Serena. I'm gonna see where the other two went. She took her hand off of Amy's and turned to walk away when she heard somebody yell Serena's name. She turned to see who was yelling, and she saw a police officer setting up a barricade, fighting with one of the people that had gathered to see what was going on.  
  
She walked towards the officer, and saw that the officer was arguing with Darien. "I have to get to her," he was yelling loudly, "you've GOT to let me in there!!" Raye walked up to the officer and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay," she said to him, "he's her husband." The police officer shrugged and let Darien pass. Darien bolted past him and headed straight towards the ambulance, and Raye couldn't help but notice the tears streaming down his face.  
  
Raye walked over to Amy, who was making her way to the ambulance. "Hey," Raye said as she got closer to Amy, "how about you go along with Darien. I still have to find Mina and Lita." Amy nodded and turned towards the ambulance, but hesitated. She turned back to face Raye and asked, "Are you sure you're all right?"  
  
Raye lifted her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, trying desperately to forget her encounter with the mysterious person she saw in her vision. She opened her eyes and placed her hand on Amy's shoulder. "I'll be fine," she said, her voice quavering slightly, "We can talk about it later." She shoved Amy away lightly and laughed. "Now get over there before I transform and kick your ass." Amy smiled at Raye and ran over to the ambulance, hopping in before they closed the doors.  
  
Raye looked at Darien, who was holding Serena's hand and listening to the paramedic talk. He looked up at Raye. The pain in his face was unbelievable. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now. Sure, Serena was one of her best friends, but Darien was her husband. She was carrying his child, and both their lives were in danger. She smiled at him, and raised her hand to wave.  
  
Darien lifted his hand and, very slowly, he pointed his finger towards the restaurant. Raye turned to see a small alleyway that was barely visible due to the rubble and smoke. She looked back at Darien and nodded. He nodded back and immediately shifted his attention to the paramedic.  
  
Raye let her arms drop to her sides and she looked around to see if anybody was watching her. Slowly, she made her way towards the alley and ducked inside, trying to remain unnoticed. Smoke still filled the air around the alleyway. It was hard to see, and harder to breathe, but Raye made her way into the alleyway nonetheless.  
  
Raye peered into the alleyway: nothing but darkness. She had moved her hand to her purse, reaching for her power stick, when she noticed two orbs seemingly floating in the air in front of her.  
  
Her blood ran cold and her body stiffened as she thought of the man in her vision. The two eyes, which were definitely eyes, because she noticed they were blinking now, slowly moved towards her. They bobbed up and down ever so slightly, and with each second, Raye grew more frightened. She thrust her hand into her purse and pulled out her Power Stick.  
  
She was just about to raise her arm, when something jumped on her shoulder. Raye leapt into the air, screaming as she went. She grabbed whatever was on her back and shook it violently for a moment before hurling it at the wall of the alley. Whatever it was, it made a loud noise as it hit the wall and a dull thud when it slid to the ground.  
  
Panting, Raye lifted her Power Stick, which began to glow. The light grew brighter and brighter until she was able to see the dim outline of the thing she had thrown at the wall.  
  
She knelt down to get a closer look, and much to her surprise, she saw Artemis lying there, his tail twitching and his eyes bulging slightly out of his head. She stood up and held her power stick towards the floating eyes, which had belonged to Luna. Once again, she knelt down and she picked Artemis up, holding him in her arms. "Oh, Artemis. Are you okay?" she asked in concern.  
  
He shook his head and, blinking his eyes several times, stood up. He stretched himself out in her arms and meowed loudly. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, still yawning, "It's nothing I don't experience every time Mina wakes up late."  
  
He looked up at Raye, smiling. Raye placed her free hand on his back and said, "Good."  
  
Suddenly, she wrapped her hand around his neck and lifted him up so that they were looking directly into each other's eyes. "Because if you ever, EVER, do that again," she said, the volume of her voice rising with each word, "I swear to GOD I'll do a lot worse to you than Mina ever did. Understood?"  
  
She glared at Artemis, who swallowed hard and smiled nervously. "Uh, yes" he said meekly. Raye placed him on the ground, right next to Luna and said, still glaring at him, "Good."  
  
Raye moved deeper into the alleyway. She heard the soft padding of her companions behind her, but she could not sense anything in front of her. It was as if the darkness was a void, an absolute emptiness.  
  
She moved forward slowly, turning her head back to look at Luna. "Are you sure they're back here?" she asked, her voice quavering slightly.  
  
"Of course." Luna leapt up onto Raye's shoulder, drew close to her ear and asked, "Why?"  
  
Raye stopped and twisted her head to look at Luna. Luna looked worried, and Raye knew that she was wondering what had happened. Raye looked forward and kept walking, choosing not to respond to Luna's question.  
  
As she moved further into the alley, two figures began to appear in the dim light from Raye's power stick. Raye bent over and held out her arm so the light from her power stick fell on Lita and Mina.  
  
They were propped up against the walls, still in their uniforms, and apparently unconscious. She felt Lita's neck for her pulse, and, after determining that she was at least alive, moved on to check Mina.  
  
They had both suffered minor concussions, and a severe drain on energy, but Raye was sure they would completely recover. "They're fine," she said to the two cats who were standing by in worry.  
  
Raye had gone to medical school and had just graduated as a nurse. She always knew she was meant to heal people, and it never hurt to have someone on the world's only team of superheroes who was trained in first aid. Battling evil from other dimensions tended to result in more injuries than a normal person might usually endure. It also helped not to rouse too much suspicion when the girls constantly ended up in the hospital. There were only so many excuses you could make up for being hurt all the time.  
  
Of course, Amy had become a doctor, but she had moved away several times just to finish her degree, so it was nice to have someone available  
  
Raye was satisfied that the girls were not in dire need of attention, both medical and that of being sailor scouts, so she took it upon herself to get them out of their uniforms. She reached over to Mina and pressed down on the center of the ribbon on her chest. The uniform she wore as Sailor Venus slowly unraveled and revealed the street clothes she had been wearing before she had transformed. She reached over and did the same to Lita.  
  
Raye leaned back against the wall of the alley and slid into a sitting position. She pulled her knees in towards her chest and leaned her head against them. She was extremely tired, and the image of the dark man in her vision was still haunting her.  
  
Luna walked up and sat down next to her. "What happened out there?" she asked, trying to be as sensitive as she could. "Are you alright?"  
  
Raye began to grow tired of that question. She knew that she would have to talk about it eventually, but for the moment, she just wanted to be left alone. She had never encountered a power like it before; it felt like there were worms crawling around in her head when he touched her. Besides, most people don't take death threats to easily either.  
  
Raye pushed it all out of her mind as best she could and stood up. She lifted Mina up and placed her limp arm around her head. "I'm fine Luna," she said as she moved towards the street, "I just need some time to think."  
  
Raye rested Mina down next to the sidewalk and went back to get Lita. Luna and Artemis had tried to pick her up, but had been as successful as any cat trying to lift a full-grown woman would have been. Raye bent down and grunted as she lifted Lita to her feet. "How did you guys managed to get these two in here, anyway?" she asked.  
  
"Well," Artemis said as he walked towards the street, "Darien had shown up near the end of the battle. He had seen the girls in the street and pulled them here where they wouldn't be hurt anymore."  
  
He stopped as he reached Mina and turned around to face Raye. "I guess he didn't see Serena or he would have gone to her first."  
  
'The problem is, Darien did see Serena,' Raye thought to herself, 'or at least Sailor Moon. But it wasn't his wife that defeated the monster.'  
  
Raye had just set Lita down next to Mina when she heard a medic calling for two stretchers. She looked up and saw a medic running towards her and the girls at her feet.  
  
The medic quickly bent over the two girls and started asking questions. Just as several more medics were arriving with stretchers, Raye was explaining to them that her friends had been attacked when they were trying to escape.  
  
Lita and Mina were quickly being whisked off and the medics had now turned their attention to Raye. They wrapped a blanket around her and led her towards the ambulance. Several different police officers had walked up and started asking her questions, but she did not answer.  
  
As the medic guided her into the ambulance with Lita, Raye could only think of one thing. It couldn't have been Serena that had destroyed the monster: she was dying, lying unconscious on the floor. So if it wasn't Serena, who was it?


	4. Dark History

Chapter Three - Dark History  
  
-_I hated History._  
  
The room was dark.  
  
Standing quietly on a small desk, a single candle burning brightly was the only source of light in the gloom; a sentinel of light raging against the engulfing darkness. Shadows danced across the walls of the court, and the scratching of a pen echoed loudly through the hall.  
  
A lone figure sat at that simple wooden desk in the middle of the room. His long white hair spilled down over his shoulders. He was dressed in a simple white robe tied at the waist with a small rope.  
  
He was young, handsome; he had the type of face people could admire or even worship. His forehead was furrowed in concentration, and the candle cast it's light down on the scrolls of paper he was writing on. It flickered with each breath the figure took, and the light glinted in his eyes.  
  
On and on he wrote, stopping to dip the quill into a jar of ink, only to start writing again.  
  
'Eons ago, in a time that very few alive still remember, Queen Beryl ruled the Nega-Verse.  
  
'The Nega-Verse was an alternate dimension to that of the one Queen Serenity ruled in the Silver millennium. The Nega-Verse was a happy place, much as it was in Serenity's universe, full of love and warmth. It was a time of peace and happiness.  
  
'As I said, though, in this alternate universe, it was Queen Beryl who controlled the universe. She was kind, loving and very beautiful; a rightful and just ruler. She, along with her family, ruled the universe from the Moon, just as Queen Serenity did.  
  
'As for the universe itself, aside from the people that lived there, it was a perfect mirror of Serenity's universe. The laws of time and space were the same, and people lived their lives much as they did in Serenity's Universe.  
  
'Of course, as most people involved with this universe now know, this was not to last. Somewhere, somehow, Queen Beryl and her Royal Family were infected by some kind of Dark Energy. To this day, there is no one who can begin to imagine what it was that set out the terrible and devastating chain of events that led to her downfall. No one, of course, but me.  
  
'You see, the Nega-Verse, although peaceful, was experiencing an energy crisis. Whole planets, along with their inhabitants, were dying. Widespread panic threatened to tear the universe apart. The Queen always was one to delve right into the heart of a problem, not allowing the task to be done by those who served her. She felt it was her responsibility to take care of her subjects.  
  
'The enormity of task weighed down on her, yet she remained vigilant.  
  
'Many speculated that it was while she was searching for a new power source, she stumbled across an ancient relic that was responsible for her change. Of course, these were just that, speculations. But I know better, for she told me herself. Indeed, Beryl did come across a dark and terrible relic for which there is no name. How she found it and why she tried to use it, I never discovered, but the outcome is obvious.  
  
'This powerful relic, a crystal that was utterly black and radiated an evil light, infected Beryl with a terrible power, so great that it drove her to the brink of madness.  
  
'So, as I said, after she was infected, she infected her family with this dark power. Along with them, Beryl infected every living being in her Kingdom on the Moon.  
  
'When the inhabitants of the universe discovered her transformation, and the transformation of the entire moon, they denied her rule and cut their ties to her. She was absolutely furious, and she and her new army immediately prepared for war. Her mind burned with a furious passion to once again control the universe, and the moon instantly became the centre of her attack on the rest of the universe.  
  
'She attacked Earth first. The battle lasted for what seemed like an eternity. The Earthlings fought long and hard, never wavering in their convictions, and the Queen actually almost lost her battle then and there. But something happened. Right when it seemed like Beryl was about to lose, she used her Dark Crystal to release a great and terrible force like a plague upon the Earth. She called it the Nega-Force. This force devastated the Earth's defense came incredible close to destroying the entire planet.  
  
'Beryl had hesitated to use the Nega-Force because, although once released its destructive force was unimaginable and unparalleled, it took incredible amounts of energy to release it in the first place. The Earth was ripe with energy, though, and after the Nega Force had been used, Beryl had all the energy she needed.  
  
'The energy she gathered from the inhabitants of the Earth allowed her to stage her attack on the rest of the universe.  
  
'The rest of the universe fell quickly to its knees. With every planet, every system that Queen Beryl conquered, her energy and her army grew. Over and over again she used the Nega-Force to conquer those that would not bow to her. The effect on the Nega-verse from so many uses of this force was devastating. The entire universe lost its reason; the laws of physics, time and space were radically altered, if not totally destroyed.  
  
'But it did not matter to her, because she once again became the ruler of the universe, but this time, she ruled with an iron fist. She had infected almost the entire universe with her evil darkness. Yet even though most of the universe fell, there were those who remained unaffected by her darkness; maybe a few thousand people per planet, and as the number of those who were unaffected grew, Queen Beryl became more infuriated.  
  
'Eventually she realized that it was only the members of a single race that remained unaffected: the Aesir, a very peaceful race. They were a tall, graceful people, and their power was very great. They had been Beryl's peacekeepers before her transformation, acting both as ambassadors, and, when the situation called for it, enforcers of peace. They were gentle in their lives, and their culture was rich and beautiful, much as they were themselves. They stood tall with extremely fair features, including long hair so light it appeared to be made of silver, and deep blue eyes that could pierce your soul.  
  
'Beryl much desired their convergence to her darkness so that she may add their great power to her own, but try as she might, there was nothing she could do to infect these people.  
  
'She did not kill them. Although they were very powerful, they could not, but more importantly, they would not retaliate with their full power. So, she used them as slaves. Those that escaped her grasp became the only resistance to her dominance over the universe. Their numbers were comparably small, they had little to no resources or territory, and they did not really cause any disturbance to her rule, so Queen Beryl paid them no mind. She reasoned to her followers that if they were ever in need of more slaves, these rebels would be their source.  
  
'So in essence, Beryl once again ruled the universe, but the burning desire for power, for total dominance, was unrelenting. She began to search for other places to dominate. She had heard rumors of an alternate dimension, namely Serenity's universe. Beryl ravaged every culture in her universe looking for clues to its existence, and more importantly, how she could get there. To every planet she traveled, searching; but she could find nothing.  
  
'Beryl could not find any clues, yet she searched with the same dark ambition she approached everything with. Eventually, after years of searching, once again she found herself dealing with the Aesir. Deep in their ancient culture Beryl found reference to this universe she sought. However, she could not find the path to the universe, for only it's existence was mentioned.  
  
'What Queen Beryl did not know is that this race had secretly been in contact with this other universe for centuries; they had kept the secret from her. The Aesir made dealings with the inhabitants of this universe eons ago. They traded goods and enjoyed their cultures, no more. The Aesir had become allies and friends to Queen Serenity and her people.  
  
'Beryl craved the knowledge of how to break into that universe, but the Aesir knew what she planned to do, and would not tell her. Beryl began to torture them in the hopes that someone might tell her the secret. After many deaths and much pain, the secret was revealed to her. She immediately set out to launch an attack against Serenity's Universe.  
  
'Beryl broke through the barrier on the Earth. She, along with her forces, ravaged the planet, hesitating to use the Nega-Force in case Queen Serenity gave her any trouble. So instead of killing the people of Earth, she drained them all of their energy, which she reserved so that she could use it to activate the Nega-Force and crush the Moon. As time wore on, Beryl noticed that the world's leaders had fled the planet. She knew that somehow they had escaped to the Moon, and that Serenity must have known about the attack.  
  
'Immediately Beryl attacked to moon, hoping for whatever advantage of surprise she still had. The battle was quick and furious. Beryl destroyed their only defenders, the Sailor Scouts, with ease. Once Beryl knew there was no one left to defend, she unleashed the Nega-Force, and the battle ended. The entire moon fell, as the once beautiful kingdom became a barren wasteland.  
  
'Beryl captured the souls of the Sailor Scouts and those of the people of the moon. Soon, she knew of only two people that remained alive; Queen Serenity, the ruler of the moon kingdom and Princess Serena, Serenity's daughter and heir to the throne. Beryl was immensely satisfied with her opportunity to destroy the lineage of the Moon's royalty once and for all.  
  
'Beryl decided to take the matter in her own hands, a trait that had once been one of her best qualities. She discovered Princess Serena running about the remnants of her palace as if looking for someone. There she stood, elegant and beautiful, much as Queen Beryl had been before her transformation. Beryl became suddenly enraged at the loss of her beauty and lashed out at the Princess.  
  
'However, before Beryl could harm her, someone intervened by throwing a rose at her. If didn't hurt her hand as much as it did, I'm sure she would have laughed at the concept.  
  
'Beryl snapped her head towards her attacker to see a young man standing there in full armour, his arm extended after throwing the rose that interfered in her attack. He was tall and handsome, his eyes full of a daring that Queen Beryl had never seen before. Princess Serena ran towards him and called his name in mad relief. "Darien!"  
  
'Beryl's expression changed from pain to shock. Here was the Heir to the Throne of the Earth. Her lost leader had made his way here to the moon, and from the way Princess Serena was clinging to him, she guessed that they were lovers. A vicious jealousy filled Beryl that this wimpy, pathetic excuse for an heiress had a lover of such daring and beauty. This Prince was just that, and he deserved a place at Beryl's side as ruler of the universe.  
  
'She asked him to join her cause, offering him a place at her side, but he bitterly refused and insulted Beryl. Enraged, she attacked them and separated the two lovers in an attempt to kidnap Darien. She believed if she could take him with her, he would reconsider her offer and stand by her side. If not, she would just brainwash him and make him love her.  
  
'She pulled Darien into the air and dragged him away from Princess Serena. He reached for her and called her name, telling her to run away, to get away from that place. But she refused and leapt into the air after him. They both flew through the air, reaching out their hands toward each other in desperation. The closer they got, the more furious Beryl became. Eventually, they reached each other, and they held on dearly.  
  
'It was at this moment that something quite unexpected happened.  
  
'Beryl felt herself losing strength, and she doubled over as she was filled with an incredible pain. It seemed that the very air had changed, had filled with some sort of energy that was attacking Beryl. She looked for the source of the attacking energy and saw that it was emanating from the two lovers. Its power was great and it rivalled anything Beryl had ever seen.  
  
'Her vision blurred as her eyes became bloodshot, and her entire body ached. She lashed out at them wildly, and they screamed as her blast hit them. Their hands separated and they drifted into unconsciousness, their bodies lingering closely to death.  
  
'The pain Beryl felt subsided and she stood straight, gazing viciously at the lovers. This power had nearly destroyed her, and they hadn't even meant for it to happen. Of course, Beryl never guessed at what the power she felt was, because the thought couldn't possibly come to her evil mind. However, I know that the pain Beryl felt was a direct response to the power of the love Darien and Serena had for each other.  
  
'Beryl pushed it out of her mind as she noticed someone walking up behind her. She turned to see Queen Serenity falling to her knees. There she was in the dirt, tears streaming down her face, mourning the death of her daughter, her kingdom, the very future of Peace. Beryl laughed wickedly at the grim satisfaction she felt from seeing the defeated ruler gaze at her daughter's lifeless body. She watched as Queen Serenity stood and looked at up her with bitterness and the same daring she had seen in Darien's eyes.  
  
'Beryl lifted her staff with the Dark Crystal embedded into the tip and pointed it accusingly at Serenity. At the same time, Queen Serenity lifted a small wand shaped like a crescent moon with a tiny white crystal sparkling brightly in the center. Beryl laughed at Serenity's gesture, for it seemed to imply that Serenity thought she could defeat her. Beryl hesitated before she released her power, for her curiosity had been peaked and she wanted to know just what Serenity planned to do to her.  
  
'In a blinding flash of light, an incredible energy burst out of the small crystal that lay embedded in the center of the wand. It seemed to fill the entire universe as it assaulted Queen Beryl and all of her forces. Beryl howled in pain as the energy seemed to tear her body apart. Beryl didn't even have time to think because as quickly as Serenity unleashed the energy, the fight was over.  
  
'Beryl found herself back in the Nega-Verse, along with her warriors, with the exception of the Seven Shadow Warriors, her best fighters created by the power of the Nega-Force.  
  
'The entire Nega-Verse trembled with her rage. Millions of questions plagued her mind. What was that crystal Serenity used? Where did she get it? Why wasn't there one like it in her universe? Amidst all of these questions, Beryl seemed to forget about her encounter with Darien and Princess Serena.  
  
'As for Queen Serenity and her kingdom, even though Serenity won, all was lost. She had used up all of her power just to send Beryl back to her Nega- Verse and trap her there. It would have been easier for her to just destroy Beryl in the first place, but to do that, she would have had to condemn her daughter and her people to the same fate.  
  
'Civilization had taken a terrible blow on Earth after Beryl's attack. There were very few people left alive on the planet. Perhaps several thousand people remained of a civilization that had numbered in the millions. Serenity also knew that without her help, the people living on the rest of the planets in the solar system would not survive.  
  
'So, Serenity had trapped Beryl, and she sent Serena and her subjects to a new life in the future on Earth. Serenity knew deep in her heart that the people left on the planet Earth would recover slowly, but they would prevail. A sort of peace had once again returned to the universe, but it cost Serenity her kingdom, and her life. With the last of her strength she sent two guardian cats - Artemis and Luna - destined to be the guardians of Sailor Scouts, along with them to the future. She gave them the tools they would need to re-activate the Scouts should Beryl ever escape from her "prison" and attempt to attack the Earth again.  
  
'With that act she breathed her last.  
  
'Beryl was now once again trapped inside her dimension, although she could still gaze at Serenity's universe; a punishment Serenity had decided was fitting, and one that drove Beryl further into her madness. Beryl was enraged at Serenity and the Moon kingdom. She was hell-bent on taking over that universe.  
  
'Through her observations, Beryl quickly realized that the Silver Crystal that had defeated her had broken into seven shards; each shard carried one of the Seven Shadows that Beryl's Dark power had created, which were instrumental in the defeat of the Earth. She watched as each of these crystals were reborn inside human's bodies.  
  
'Beryl tried to once again break into Serenity's universe using the Nega- Force with what little stolen power she had left, but she could not succeed. She tried relentlessly to escape her prison, but it was impossible.  
  
'Her universe began to fade into the darkness, and the energy Beryl was wasting only quickened it. Her followers began to disappear along with the universe, and their numbers dropped significantly.  
  
'Soon, Beryl was left with only a fraction of her army. The bitterness inside her grew stronger with each and every subject she lost. Her family and those closest to her remained unaffected for a long time, but eventually, they also started to disappear. It was then that Beryl managed to escape.  
  
'Once again, I am not sure how she managed to do it, but it wasn't as successful as she had planned. She couldn't send more than a few of her followers at a time into the other universe, so Beryl couldn't launch the full-scale attack as she had done earlier. But the barrier was weakened, and Beryl was determined to gather enough energy to release the Nega-Force once again.  
  
'Beryl entrusted the task of gathering energy to her four Generals, those who had led her army in the original attack on Serenity's kingdom. Jedite, Neflite, Zoecite, Malekite. These four warriors were her strongest, now that the seven shadows created by her dark power were locked away inside the Silver Crystal, or at least, parts of the now shattered crystal.  
  
'Slowly, but surely, Beryl's Generals collected more and more energy from the humans. There seemed to be absolutely no resistance to her operations. Slowly, what Beryl had lost began to re-appear. Eventually, enough of her army had re-appeared that she could focus on gathering enough energy to begin the attacks on the barriers between the universes.  
  
' However, this is when Sailor Moon showed up.  
  
'Here was a young warrior who claimed to be the 'protector of the moon', reminding Beryl of the Sailor Soldiers she had so easily defeated in her first assault on the moon, yet Beryl could not recall this one at all.  
  
Along with Sailor Moon appeared a young man who called himself Tuxedo Mask. Beryl was confused even more by the young man, for she had no recollection of him at all, yet there was something oddly familiar about him..  
  
'Despite Beryl's failure to recall the two warriors, Sailor Moon's attempts at foiling Beryl's plans, while feeble at best, still kept the attack at bay. With each passing day, the young Sailor Scout was destroying more of Beryl's servants, and Tuxedo Mask was always there to save her whenever Beryl was close to disposing of her.  
  
'As more time - and more of Beryl's minions - passed, the scouts that Beryl did remember joined Sailor Moon in her quest to defeat Beryl. The Queen took the resistance as a personal attack, yet she never faced the scouts in person, believing it was something, for the first time in many millennia, to be above her attention.  
  
'One by one her Generals failed. Having little compassion for her followers, it was at Beryl's hands that all but one, Malekite, perished, and the Sailor Scouts eventually defeated him.  
  
'But before that happened, Neflite had discovered a way to locate the Rainbow Crystals, the shattered pieces of the Silver Crystal. Beryl, still bitter over the loss of her Seven Shadows, attempted to recover the crystals, both to release her warriors, and the possibility of harnessing the awesome power of the Silver Crystal.  
  
'Having experienced the power of the crystal first-hand, Beryl knew that having this object of power at her disposal would greatly increase her own power, or at least it would be unable to harm her. But it was not to be.  
  
'Having found all of the crystals, the General named Zoesite attempted to destroy Sailor Moon, but Tuxedo Mask protected her, sustaining a near-fatal blow meant for her. Sailor Moon's love for Tuxedo Mask fused the Rainbow Crystals to form the Silver Crystal.  
  
'It was then revealed that Sailor Moon was indeed Princess Serena, heir to the throne of the Moon. She took the Silver crystal and used it against Beryl, but she was not experienced enough to do any real damage.  
  
'Even though it appeared Sailor Moon had won, Beryl had taken her most prized possession; her lover, Prince Darien, who had been masquerading as Tuxedo Mask. Beryl wiped his mind and imbued him with Dark Power.  
  
'He became her servant in both body and soul.  
  
'After several encounters with each other, Prince Darien, the so- called "champion of the Nega-Verse" - a delightful irony, if I may say so - was restored to his former self by Sailor Moon's crystal. Beryl kidnapped him again, and cast an even more powerful spell on him, one that even the Silver Crystal could not break.  
  
'As I said, Beryl had been close to gathering enough energy for her assault on the barriers between universes before Sailor Moon interfered. Even though Sailor Moon had defeated Beryl's minions over and over again, Beryl had managed to hold onto enough of the stolen energy to finally stage her attack.  
  
'Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts were there to stop her. In several acts of nobility and courage, every Scout but Sailor Moon sacrificed their lives to protect her, and their planet. Sailor Moon was left alone to face Beryl and defeat her.  
  
'When she confronted Beryl, she also had to confront her lover, Prince Darien. A vicious battle ensued; Darien attacked Sailor Moon, and when her attempt to use the Silver Crystal to heal him failed, she lashed out, and weakened him. She then appealed to his heart, which Sailor Moon knew Beryl could not touch.  
  
'Harnessing the power of their love, just as they had unknowingly done eons ago, when Beryl first attacked, Sailor Moon healed Darien.  
  
'With his mind back, but his body broken, Darien collapsed in Sailor Moon's arms. Beryl, seeing Darien's healing as an act of treason, lashed out in anger. Darien wounded her, and she fled before Sailor Moon could attack her in a weakened state.  
  
'Beryl ran to the crystal she used to summon the Nega-Force. It spoke to her, as it always did(although, I do wonder sometimes if there actually was a voice; she was insane), and it gave Beryl the opportunity to defeat Sailor Moon for good. The crystal infused Beryl with the stolen energy from Earth. Beryl experienced a rebirth, becoming far more powerful then she ever could imagine.  
  
'Sailor Moon confronted Beryl, and using the power of her crystal, the power of her friendship and the power of her love, she was able to defeat Beryl when she was the more powerful than she had ever been.  
  
'Sailor Moon had defeated the evil Queen and restored peace to the universe. She and the other scouts went back to leading normal lives. They lost all memories of what had happened, and Beryl could never come back again.  
  
'Sailor Moon may have lost her memories, but that didn't mean the story ended. Time went on, Sailor Moon regained her memories and much transpired since then. But before I go on, I need to talk of Beryl's kingdom, and the state it fell into after her death.  
  
'Beryl's court fell into chaos without her. The final battle between Beryl and Sailor Moon had broken the barrier between universes open, but there was no one left to care.  
  
'Her family had moved on, either spreading themselves throughout their universe or Serenity's, and either met their ends on Earth, in conflict with the Sailor scouts, or by each other's hands.  
  
'Eventually, the castle, which I am writing this in now, lay abandoned. The halls are empty, and the darkness has consumed it. The story should end here, but it doesn't. Beryl's reign of terror should have ended, except.  
  
"Except what, Fenris?"  
  
The figure writing at the desk dropped his quill and turned to look at the person asking the question. There he saw a tall man, his shoulder-length brown hair hanging down in front of his eyes, eyes that glinted with a wild humour. He was wearing a black turtleneck with a pair of faded denim jeans. His lips were curled into a smile.  
  
He walked towards Fenris slowly. Fenris turned away from the man to face the desk and looked down at his scroll. He lifted his hand and rested it on the desktop. His fingers tensed slightly as he ran them down the side of the scroll; his eyes danced back and forth wildly as he read what was written there.  
  
"I assume you've enjoyed your time on Earth." Fenris said without looking up.  
  
The man walked around the table, never taking his eyes off Fenris. He reached out his hand as if to grab the back of a chair that did not exist. The darkness around his hand twisted and grew denser. As the darkness twisted, it took the shape of a simple wooden chair, looking identical to the one Fenris was sitting in. The man pushed the chair towards the desk, and sat down.  
  
Fenris' eyes stopped moving, and he looked up from the desk. He stared at the man in black, who was still smiling at him. The man reached across the table and took hold of Fenris' scroll.  
  
"Of course I did," the man whispered as he turned the scroll around so that he could read it. His smile faded as his eyes flitted back and forth, just as rapidly as Fenris' had. They danced back and forth until finally, they came to a stop. The man once again smiled as he looked up at Fenris.  
  
"Except what?" he asked curiously, again.  
  
The man leaned across the desk, reaching out with his hand and lifting Fenris' face so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "Except that now there's a new ruler?" the man said quietly to Fenris. "Except that now someone has claimed the throne?" The man let his hand drop as he leaned back into his chair. Fenris still stared into his eyes.  
  
"Except that now," the man said smugly, "Beryl's only living descendant has risen to claim the throne?"  
  
Fenris sighed loudly and turned his head to look away from the man. He folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes tightly. "Except," he said, his eyes still shut, "that now a mad man dwells here."  
  
The man laughed loudly as Fenris turned back towards him. Fenris reached across the desk to retrieve his scroll, turning it around so that he could continue writing.  
  
"Oh come now Fenris," the man said, still laughing, "I'm not that bad."  
  
Fenris picked up the quill he had been using and twirled it slowly in his hands. "No Loki," he said, his attention focused on the quill, "you're not that bad."  
  
Loki's laughing slowly died away. Suddenly, he stood up and brushed the hair out of his eyes. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small crystal that was completely black. He turned it around in his hand for a moment to inspect it.  
  
A small piece of wood, a torch, appeared in Loki's other hand. He lowered it into the flame of the candle until the tip burst into flame.  
  
He lifted the torch above his head and, as Fenris watched with mild curiosity, walked away from the table and into the darkness. The light from the torch crept along the ground until it revealed what appeared to be a small table. There, lying on the table was the Crescent Moon Wand, glinting brightly from the light of the torch. Beside it lay a sheathed dagger. The handle looked like polished bone and was encrusted with dozens of tiny jewels. Runes were etched along the base of the handle and disappeared under the sheath.  
  
The man placed the crystal in his hand down next to the wand. He moved his hand across the table, hovering for a moment above the wand, then reached over and picked up the dagger. With the dagger in his hand, Loki turned back towards the desk where Fenris was sitting, dropped the torch to the ground and walked towards him.  
  
"So," Fenris said as Loki returned to the table, "you managed to get a piece of it."  
  
Loki looked back towards the table, which was barely visible since the torch had burnt out. "Yes," he replied as he looked back towards Fenris, "but not without one of the scouts discovering me."  
  
Fenris raised his eyebrows in mild shock. 'So the scouts know' he thought to himself. How interesting.  
  
"It doesn't matter anyway," Loki said, the smile still on his face, "I assumed they would have guessed something was up when that monster tried to kill Serena. Yes, I would have to give them more credit than that."  
  
Loki sat down in his chair, but it seemed he couldn't remain still for more than a second. He was filled with such energy that he didn't know what do to with himself. "You really should visit a nightclub with me sometime, Fenris" Loki said, changing the subject rather abruptly. He fidgeted in his seat and said, "They're really quite amazing."  
  
Loki rose from his chair and began to pace back and forth in front of Fenris. "And the people," Loki said, gesturing wildly with his hands, "are amazing. There was this one girl who couldn't get enough of me."  
  
Loki stopped his pacing and smiled as he lifted up his shirt. He ran his hand down his bare stomach slowly, stopping as he hit the belt around his waist. "She just loved my abs!" he said, with a seemingly permanent grin on his face.  
  
He released the shirt from his hand, letting it fall back into place and pulling at the bottom of it to smooth it out. He lifted his hand and brushed at a stray hair hanging in front of his face. "And the men are just as bad." Loki said as he leaned in close to Fenris.  
  
"I mean, some of them are just as attracted to me as the women are, maybe more. The rest of them are just insane with jealousy!"  
  
Loki laughed as he pushed himself away from the desk and began to pace again. Fenris rolled his eyes as he watched Loki pacing. He's picked up so many traits, Fenris thought to himself. The constant pacing, the way he's jamming his hands in his pockets while he's pacing and gesturing with them when he talks. The incessant brushing his hair out of his face is enough to drive me mad.  
  
Loki kept pacing and was giggling like the young girls Fenris had observed on Earth for so many years. He's almost completely human, Fenris thought. Every move, every gesture; it's like he is truly one of them.  
  
Fenris leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. For a moment, he allowed the icy demeanor he kept to melt, and he smiled. He was just happy that there was a chance for the whole mess ahead of them to be spared. So much pain and death will be brought if he goes ahead with what he plans.  
  
The smile on Fenris' face quickly subsided. His body once again became rigid, and he opened his eyes, looking at Loki, who was examining his image in a mirror that had not been there previously. He's almost human, he thought as he gazed at Loki's back, except for.  
  
"You know," Loki said as he remained in front of the mirror, "you use the word 'except' far too often."  
  
Loki ceased his posing in the mirror and looked back at Fenris, his face completely serious. He glared at Fenris for what seemed like an eternity. Loki's face lit up quite suddenly, although, and he smiled once again. "Did you ever consider the word but? Oh, and speaking of butts.." Loki turned to view his profile, lifting the back of his shirt above his waist. "What do you think?"  
  
Fenris completely closed off his mind, infuriated that he allowed Loki to read his thoughts. Stupid, he thought to himself as Loki continued his posing.  
  
Fenris sighed loudly and stared at the scroll lying on the desk in front of him. I shouldn't allow myself to relax like that, Fenris thought to himself. He reached out and picked up the quill lying next to the scroll. He twirled it in his hands, staring at it as the light reflected off of it. But I can't help myself.  
  
Fenris turned to look at Loki, who was now moving his hair around on his head, trying out several different 'styles', which included holding it straight above his head. Fenris allowed himself to smile, but only slightly.  
  
Loki turned to face Fenris, still holding his hair above his hair. Loki's smile was just as wide as ever. He tried pouted his lips, but his smiling didn't allow him much success. Loki let go of his hair as he laughed loudly.  
  
"You know," Fenris said, the smile on his face growing wider, "you smile too much."  
  
Loki stared at Fenris in disbelief. The smile on Fenris' face slowly disappeared and he grew extremely uncomfortable, avoiding Loki's stare. Suddenly, Loki burst into a fit of laughter. Gasping for air, Loki stumbled over to Fenris' chair and lifted him to his feet.  
  
"My Fenris," Loki said in-between gasps, "who would have guessed you had a sense of humour in there?"  
  
The smile returned to Fenris' face and he started to laugh along with Loki. For a moment, Fenris felt normal again. He was with his friend, and they were having a good time, and nothing else mattered.  
  
Loki, who was squeezing Fenris' arms, grunted loudly as he lifted Fenris up in the air. Fenris looked down at him, partially astonished at his strength, but mostly just shocked at the gesture. Fenris began laughing at Loki, but deep inside he was worried. He knew that at any moment, the madness could take over Loki's mind.  
  
"If you'll so kindly stop that and put me down," Fenris said to Loki, who was now spinning Fenris in a circle.  
  
Loki set Fenris down and embraced him tightly. Fenris was still smiling, but he knew something had to be said. Fenris pushed against Loki, moving him about a foot away. The smile on Loki's face disappeared as he stared at Fenris, who was avoiding his gaze. "What is it?" Loki asked as he reached out to take Fenris by the arm.  
  
Fenris shifted his body so that Loki missed his arm. He looked up into Loki's eyes and the expression on his face became concern. Fenris began to speak, but he fell silent. He lifted his hands, placing them on his arms as if to warm them. He opened his mouth, which had become completely dry, and he gazed sorrowfully at Loki.  
  
"Must you go ahead with all of this?" Fenris whispered, the words echoing through the chamber.  
  
Loki stared at Fenris for a moment. All humour drained away from his face, and he stared at Fenris with cold eyes. Fenris was now reaching for Loki, but it was Loki who twisted out of the way. Loki turned his back to Fenris and sighed loudly. He jammed his hands into his pockets and started to walk away.  
  
"Wait!" Fenris yelled as he ran towards Loki.  
  
Loki spun around to face Fenris. Fenris stopped running as he saw the tears forming in Loki's eyes. Fenris reached out to Loki, but Loki batted his hand away.  
  
"I gave him every chance," Loki said, his voice cracking as he choked. The tears were flowing freely down his face.  
  
Fenris felt his chest tightening. He knew that tears were rising in his eyes as well, but he held them back.  
  
Loki ran his hands through his hair and let them drop to his sides. He lifted them again and placed over his eyes as he turned away from Fenris.  
  
A sob escaped Loki's lips as he turned back towards Fenris. "I gave him every chance," he said, dropping his arms to his sides as he gazed into Fenris' eyes, "and he did nothing."  
  
Fenris wanted to comfort Loki; he knew Loki wouldn't allow it, yet he still reached out to him. "Loki, listen..."  
  
Loki quickly pulled his arm away from Fenris. "No you listen," he said, tears still running down his face, "You don't understand at all. God, how many times do I have to go through this with you? How many times is it going to take before you accept it?  
  
Loki turned away from Fenris. He started pacing back and forth: he ran his hands through his hair, letting them drop to his sides and sighing loudly before he ran them through his hair again.  
  
"You don't know what it's like to have a mother that was completely evil and insane. You don't know what it's like to have this part of you buried deep inside that's always trying to get out."  
  
"Everyday, every moment of my life I hate that part of myself. Not a moment goes by where I don't wish that I could just make it go away; that part of me that wants me to avenge her death. It wants me to take revenge on those Scouts and, oh yeah, wants me to destroy the Earth while I'm at it."  
  
Loki kept pacing. Fenris sighed and leaned back against the desk he was sitting at earlier. "Loki," he said sympathetically, "Everybody has problems."  
  
Loki stopped pacing and quickly moved over to stand directly in front of Fenris.  
  
"Don't give me that 'Everybody has problems' crap either," Loki said as he pointed his finger accusingly at Fenris. "Yes, everybody has problems. All these humans I'm so quaintly associated with, they all have problems. But my problems are so much bigger than theirs. Why, you ask? Because they're mine. I know it sounds selfish and conceited, but they're big because they're mine.  
  
"Granted, some of them might have something in their head telling them everything has to die, but they don't have the means to do it. I do. That's the difference."  
  
Loki shook his head and laughed. He put his hands on his hips and walked away. Fenris watched dismally and sighed loudly. My world is a world of sighs, he thought to himself.  
  
Loki laughed out loud. "And would you please learn how to control those raging thoughts of yours. Sometimes you make it too easy."  
  
Fenris' quiet demeanor quite suddenly went from miserable to angry. "Well I wouldn't have to control them if you weren't so damn nosey!"  
  
"Oh no," Loki said as he turned back to face Fenris, "don't you try and turn this into a discussion about your problems, okay! This is about me and my problems."  
  
Fenris pushed himself away up from the desk and swiftly moved towards Loki. "Now, that's the real problem right there," he said as he stood in front of Loki defiantly.  
  
Loki looked up into Fenris' eyes and moved closer to him, daring him to go on.  
  
"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Loki asked.  
  
"This all has to be about you. Everything has to be about Loki. This is just a childish attempt to get everybody's attention. You're more human then you want to admit, Loki. You're just like them."  
  
Before Fenris had a chance to finish, Loki had slapped his backhand across his face.  
  
Fenris reached up to touch his face where Loki had hit him. He and Loki stared at each other for a moment before Loki turned away.  
  
Fenris pulled his hand away from his face and started at the blood on his hand that was leaking out of the corner of his mouth. He walked back to the desk and leaned against it once again.  
  
He wiped at the blood on his face with the back of his hand. He crossed his legs and placed his hand on his forehead, rubbing it as if it could get rid of the searing pain.  
  
"Loki," he said, his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest, "do you remember the time we spent living on Earth?"  
  
Loki stopped pacing and smiled. "How could I forget," he said, the smile growing wider, "it was one of the happiest times in my life."  
  
Loki moved towards the desk and leaned next to Fenris.  
  
"Do you remember the first day we moved into that small town?" Fenris asked.  
  
Loki nodded his head. "Yeah. You were pretending to be my big brother. We were moving into the house. All that stuff you bought was being brought into the house. I was sitting on the sidewalk, and that girl next door came over with her mother. The mother went up to you and welcomed you into the neighborhood. The little girl sat down next to me."  
  
"She, ah...she started to play hide-and-seek with me."  
  
Fenris laughed. "Yeah. That was a great place, and they were great people."  
  
They both looked at each other and smiled for a moment. "Look," Fenris said as the two looked at each other, "I know things are confusing right now. I mean, all this didn't even start until your powers started manifesting themselves."  
  
Loki gave a short laugh. "Yeah, God bless adolescence. Pimples, girls, and the embodiment of evil in the universe telling you to blow up the world."  
  
The two remained silent for a moment before Fenris spoke up. "Anyway, I just want you to think about the good times we had, about the happiness the both of us felt in that place. Think about that, about the people that you cared about, and fight the impulses you're having now. What you're doing affects them. You hold their lives in you hands."  
  
Loki sighed loudly. He stood up and walked away from the desk.  
  
"Fenris, you know how much you mean to me. I couldn't bear life without you. But, I'm tired of fighting. I can't do it anymore."  
  
Fenris was about to object, but Loki interrupted him. "Besides, you know I'm not just going to blow up the planet on a whim. There are still things I need to do."  
  
Loki looked at Fenris and smiled. "Yes, we did have good times," he continued, "but they weren't the only happy times I had in my life. And you know what I mean to do. I have to talk to him."  
  
Fenris nodded slowly. "I know you have to do that. I think you should do it. But, there are better ways."  
  
Loki's face lit up as he began to talk. "Yes," he said, "but where's the drama? Where's the fun, hmm?"  
  
"Besides," he said as he tapped the side of his head with his finger, "I'm not quite sane, remember? Now if you'll excuse me," he said as he turned his back to Fenris, "I have matters to attend to."  
  
Fenris stared at Loki with a deep concern. He knew what his friend was going to do, but he also knew that nothing would stop him. Fenris began to walk away, hesitating to look back at Loki, who was staring into the darkness, whispering under his breath.  
  
Fenris felt the air around him begin to press down on him, and he felt the living presence of several different spirits, spirits he knew Loki was invoking for a dark and terrible purpose. He knew that Loki was starting a ritual, and he had no desire to bear witness to the death of his friend's soul. Fenris turned to the exit, and made his way out of the throne room, leaving Loki by himself.  
  
Loki slowly lifted his hands from his sides, raising them towards the ceiling. The air was filled suddenly with music. Loki smiled, all traces of his tears were gone and he allowing a small laugh to escape his lips. 'Sickness by Chester Bennington; oh how I love that soundtrack.'  
  
The smile disappeared off his face, and Loki continued his chanting, concentrating on his task. His words seemed to twist the darkness around him, and the invisible spirits he called upon filled the room. They began to wail loudly; their unearthly screams shook the walls and they battered against Loki's body. Several small cuts appeared on his uncovered face, but he continued on, unaffected. The music played on.  
  
_You fell away, _

_what more can I say; _

_the feelings evolved, _

_I won't let it out. _

_I can't replace _

_you're screaming face, _

_feeling the sickness inside.  
_  
Loki stretched his arms out at his sides, and began to turn in circles. His arms twitched as his turning grew faster; his chanting had degenerated into a steady drone.  
  
A dark ball of energy appeared above Loki's head. The spirits grew louder, and they caused the air in the room to blow wildly. His cape and hair, caught in the torrent of wind, thrashed about wildly, but he didn't lose his concentration.  
  
Loki stopped spinning. He slowly lowered his hands and, twisting his palms to face the ground, he clenched his fingers into fists. The ball of energy above his head twisted into a burning pentagram. It burned with a bright blue flame, and it lowered itself down around Loki in tandem with his arms.  
  
The pentagram embedded itself into the floor. Loki ceased his chanting as he stepped out of the glowing figure and turned to face it's center. Lifting his hand, he turned his palms towards the ceiling, extending two of his fingers, yet keeping the others clenched. Slowly, he lifted his arms higher and higher, as if lifting an invisible object at the tips of his fingers.  
  
The pentagram shimmered and glowed brighter. As Loki lifted his arms, something began to rise out of the pentagram. Higher and higher it grew; pieces of jagged rock that formed a hand with it's fingers clenched like a claw.  
  
The hand rose several feet above the ground, supported by a thick column of rock. When it stopped, the energy around it began to spin around. The pentagram lifted off of the ground and became a blur of light. The light shrunk into a ball and it moved to rest in the palm of the rock sculpture.  
  
It stayed there only for a moment before it stretched itself out. As the energy stretched, the fingers of the rock slowly closed around it. The energy began to take shape, growing arms, legs and a head. The fingers clenched tightly on the energy, and the energy grew dimmer and dimmer.  
  
The features of a young woman began to emerge. She was young, only about twenty, with long red hair, a small mouth and a very lithe body.  
  
The glow eventually wore off, and the eyes of the girl fluttered open. She looked around for a moment, but as soon as she saw Loki, his eyes burning, she screamed. She screamed over and over, trying desperately to escape, but she couldn't. Tears were streaming down her face as Loki began to move towards her.  
  
Loki lifted his hand, his fingers curling into the same formation as the rocks holding the girl. A burst of energy from Loki's hand blinded her as she screamed again. She looked up and saw her assailant holding a knife, the blade long and curved, the handle gleaming like polished bone.  
  
_So many words can't describe my face; _

_This feeling's evolved, _

_So soon to break out. _

_I__ can't relate _

_To a happy state, _

_Feeling the blood run inside_  
  
She began whimpering, and a steady stream of tears flowed down her face. Loki leaned in towards her, bringing the knife to rest on her cheek. She sobbed lightly and shut her eyes, hoping that she could wake up from the nightmare.  
  
Loki ran the blade down her cheek, down to her neck, and held it there. The girl opened her eyes, staring directly into his. Her mouth quivered as she whispered quietly, "I don't want to die."  
  
Loki pulled the knife away from her neck and let his arm drop to his side. He lifted his other hand, brushing aside a stray hair on the girl's forehead. The tears sparkled in her eyes, and for a moment, Loki's face was a complete mirror of the fear in her face.  
  
"I'm not going to kill you," he said quietly as his face hardened and lost all emotion. He leaned back, lifting the knife high above his head, the blade gleaming in the dim light. He started down at the girls, her eyes growing wide once again in fear. Loki breathed in heavily, his arms tensing as he whispered, "Don't be afraid."  
  
The music in the air grew louder, the words echoing throughout the palace:  
  
_Why won't you die? _

_Your blood in mine; _

_We'll be fine, _

_t__hen your body _

_will be mine._  
  
The spirits around them wailed as he thrust the blade down into her chest. The air blew wildly; the girl's blood glittered as it spilled down the column and pooled on the floor.  
  
Energy flowed from Loki's body, through the blade and coursed through the girl's body. The spirits around them flew about madly and grew louder, but they couldn't drown out the girl's screams.


	5. Conversations

**Chapter Four - Conversations  
**

-People can spoil a good story by talking too much...   
  
Darkness around her. Darkness pressing down; down on her body, on her mind, her soul. No light. Can't feel the light.  
  
Push against it. Try to get rid of it. Just like before.  
  
I can get rid of it.  
  
Why can't I get rid of it?  
  
...Darien?  
  
Where are you?  
  
Someone was laughing. 'Beryl again? No, not Beryl; Someone else. Who could it be?  
  
Serena felt empty inside. It was as if life didn't seem worth it anymore. She could feel the darkness pressing down on her still. Her mind seemed cloudy. It became dark, dark like the darkness around her. It was taking over, infecting her.  
  
Something moved in the darkness. No, it was the darkness, or a part of it. It shifted and shaped itself. A staff with a crystal, a cloak, two burning eyes. Serena gasped as she remember whom it was. 'Wiseman,' she thought to herself with bitterness. The darkness was taking over. But she still remembered.  
  
Prince Diamond lay dead at her feet; his blood stained her hands, her suit. It was everywhere. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except her pain and the dark. Unbearable pain inside; yes, that was it. The Wiseman had shown her.  
  
Darien, Serena's love, had betrayed her. He left Serena alone to be with Rini. He left her broken and desperately alone to be with Wicked Lady. Alone in the darkness; alone with her pain. Darien loved their daughter more than he loved her, and they were both laughing.  
  
Her heart was filled with a great sadness that fuelled the darkness. It was sadness, but it changed to anger. The darkness swelled and shifted again. It filled her heart because it was already tainted with her own anger.  
  
She had no one. Alone alone alone. Her daughter was infected by the dark forces just as she was being infected, and Serena's love - her true love, her only love - had followed Rini blindly and without regret. Not even a backwards glance. No, that wasn't true. They both turned back to laugh.  
  
Serena fell to her knees. Tears ran down her face, the warmth offering little solace. She should hate them. She wanted to hate them. Take revenge, revenge on them, on the whole world. They gave her this pain.  
  
She did everything for them, she did it all for them, but everything was taken away from her. Time and time again, she sacrificed her life, the lives of her friends, her very future she risked for them, but they didn't know or care.  
  
Hate, more powerful than love.  
  
"Mommy?"  
  
Serena looked up, into the darkness, looking for the voice she heard. A small light appeared. Serena could see a face in the light. It was Rini.  
  
She was smiling, the way she always did. The light and warmth from her face pushed at the darkness with its intensity, it's beauty, and it's innocence. It pushed the darkness out of Serena's heart and filled it with love.  
  
'My child,' Serena thought. Every memory she had of Rini came flooding into her mind. Every noise she had made, every trip to the park, every minute Serena had spent in her house doing chores because of the little munchkin. It all filled her mind and her heart.  
  
No matter what she did, or what she became, Rini was still Serena's daughter. Serena thought of Darien, too. She knew he loved her. She felt his love over and over again, and now, his love combined with Rini's made Serena strong. It gave her power to defeat the darkness.  
  
But she still heard laughter. The light faded away, the image of Darien and Rini disappeared, but someone was still heard laughing. She stood up, fighting against the darkness. The laughter grew louder as Serena gripped her scepter tightly, preparing to attack. It was then that the Wiseman appeared.  
  
"Ah, look at this," he said, his voice filled with venom, "little miss Moon Princess has fought off the darkness." He laughed again He and stretched his arm towards her, pointing his twisted ugly finger at her. "Well, don't worry, my dear," he said, his finger still pointing at her, "we don't really want you. It's your friends we're after."  
  
He laughed again, and Serena lifted her scepter and pointed it at his chest. He moved backwards, disappearing into the darkness. Serena lunged towards him, but he was gone.  
  
She twisted around, trying to find him. His last words echoed in the darkness. "It's your friends we're after."  
  
Serena opened her eyes. She sat up, her body covered in sweat. She looked around the room she was in.  
  
Light was pouring in from the window, but there was a dark figure blocking it. Like an eclipse, the light flooded around the dim figure and hurt Serena's eyes. The figure moved towards her and she squinted her eyes, trying to see who it was.  
  
As the person drew closer, Serena noticed something in one of the figure's hands. The light glinted off the object, and Serena realized that it was some kind of knife.  
  
Screaming at the top of her lungs, Serena desperately tried to get the covers off of herself and get out of the bed she was lying in. She felt the person trying to hold her down, but Serena, still screaming, frantically kept trying to get up.  
  
Darien burst into the room, skidding across the floor.  
  
"Darien!" Serena squealed as she overpowered and pushed away the person holding her down. She scrambled out of bed and ran towards Darien, not looking back. She grabbed his arm and violently swung him in-between her and her assailant.  
  
"OhmygodDarienhehasaknifeandhewasgoingtocutmeandhetriedtoholdmedownandIscrea medbecauseIhatebeingcutandidon'tknowwhereIaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammm."  
  
Serena stopped babbling, but only to take a deep breath. She was about to start again, but Darien turned around and placed his hands on Serena's face.  
  
"Serena" he said in the calmest, most soothing voice he could muster, "Hey, Serena! Look at me." She was panting heavily, the sweat mingled with her tears dripped down her face. "It's alright. Please calm down."  
  
Serena took a couple of deep breaths and looked up into Darien's eyes. She threw her arms around him and squeezed as hard as she could, closing her eyes tightly. "Oh Darien, I was so scared."  
  
She opened her eyes and look up at Darien again, only this time, his face was all red and his eyes were kind of bulging out a little. "Oops," she said as she let her arms drop to her sides. Darien bent over and gasped for air.  
  
Serena laughed and tapped him on the back. "Oh Darien," she said, still laughing, "Don't be such a wimp!"  
  
Darien, who was trying to catch his breath, looked up at Serena. "Oh...yeah." he said between breaths, "At least...I'm not the one...who freaks out...when I'm about...to get...a needle."  
  
Serena stared at Darien with a puzzled look on her face. Darien, still gasping for air, lifted his hand and pointed towards the bed. Serena turned her head and noticed a woman lying on her face on the floor; a nurse, whose hat was crushed in what looked like the shape of a footprint. Lying on the floor next to her was the knife Serena had seen, which she now realized was just a needle.  
  
Serena made a temple with her fingers and hunched over slightly, looking like a child who was caught trying to steal a cookie. She twisted her foot and her face glowed several shades of red. "Gosh Miss, I'm sorry."  
  
Darien put his hands on his knees and grunted loudly as he stood up. He took Serena by the hands and brought her head towards his chest. He gently started to rub her back, and he sighed deeply. He slowly pushed her back, and moved his hand slowly up to her chin. He lifted her face so he could look into her eyes.  
  
Serena raised her arm and took Darien's face in her hands. A single tear rolled down Darien's face, and he whispered softly, "I love you, Serena."  
  
Serena smiled. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip as she fought back tears. She thought of the dreams she had had, and she realized how much Darien's love meant to her. She opened her eyes and gazed deeply into his. Darien leaned down and kissed her.  
  
In that moment, time seemed to stop. The entire world was filled with nothing but warmth and love. 'This is it,' Serena thought to herself. 'This is what we do it for. No one on Earth may ever realize it, but it's moments like this that make everything worthwhile. If the darkness ever took over, the people would never be able to experience these moments. I won't ever let that happen.'  
  
Serena drew away from Darien and placed her hand on his chest. "I love you too," she said as she leaned forward, laying her head on his chest. "Always."  
  
Darien placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away. She looked up to ask why he pushed her away and noticed a large bead of sweat rolling down his face. "Darien?" she said in growing concern. "Is everything ok?"  
  
His eyes flashed back and forth as he grabbed his jacket, which had fallen on the floor.  
  
"Coffee!" he said nervously as he backed out of the room. "I'm going to go get you some coffee. Uh, I'll be right back."  
  
He took off down the hall without so much as a backwards glance. Serena scratched her head in confusion. What was that about, she thought to herself as she peered down the hall.  
  
Serena turned around to see Raye glaring at her, her smooshed hat and messed up hair hiding most of her face. Serena grimaced in shock, but recovered quickly and she began to laugh nervously. She reached out and picked the hat off of Raye's head. Serena dusted it off and tried, unsuccessfully, to restore the mangled hat to its original shape.  
  
Serena placed the semi-crushed hat back on Raye's head and said, still laughing, "Uh, gee Raye. Sorry about that!" Serena rushed past Raye and leapt into the bed, pulling the blankets up over her head in a feeble attempt to hide.  
  
Raye slowly bent down and retrieved the needle she had 'dropped'. "That's ok," she said through her clenched teeth. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need a bigger needle."  
  
Raye stormed out of the room and down the hall, muttering something about the Hippocratic oath. Serena slowly poked her head out of her hiding place and breathed a sigh of relief, choosing to ignore the comment about the bigger needle.  
  
Once again, Serena looked around the room she was in. It was small, and very plain. The curtains on the window were pulled open, and the light spilled into the room. Serena smiled. She felt safe here, in the light.  
  
She realized that the back of her throat was raspy and sore. I'm so thirsty, she thought to herself. She looked at the stand next to her bed, hoping to see a glass of water. She saw her locket lying there, along with a small vase filled with roses. Her eyes grew wide as she stretched over to smell them.  
  
She took a deep breath. They were amazingly fresh, and since roses always reminded her of Darien, she sighed happily as she breathed out.  
  
She was about to lie down when she noticed one of the roses was dead. She reached up and pulled it out of the vase.  
  
Serena leaned back in the bed and studied the rose in her hands. The petals had turned completely black, but had not withered. As she turned it around in vague curiosity, Serena felt a sudden jab of pain in her thumb and dropped the rose on her lap, squealing at the pain. She put her thumb in her mouth, and looked down angrily at the rose.  
  
Serena's eyes grew wide when she realized that the rose had disappeared. She felt the sheets around her, and even leaned over the edge of the bed, but she could not find it.  
  
She pulled herself up and leaned back onto her pillow. She pulled at the sheets, moving them back and forth, thinking that it had gotten lost in it's folds. The rose had completely disappeared. Serena closed her eyes for a moment, and reasoned to herself that it was probably just underneath the bed.  
  
Now that her eyes were closed, Serena realized just how tired she was. She pulled the blankets up to her chin, and turned over on her side. As she drifted into unconsciousness, she thought she heard a small child laughing. There was something familiar about it, as if she had heard it before, but her eyes had shut, and she drifted off into sleep.  
  
"Alright you guys, we need to have a major talk."  
  
The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon and an unusually warm autumn breeze blew across the temple courtyard. Amy and Mina had just come up the stairs from the street, with Luna and Artemis at their feet, and Lita decided to take it upon herself to get the meeting started.  
  
Lita was leaning, with her arms folded across her chest, against one of the supports holding up the roof over the stairs leading to the temple. Her wavy brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a simple yellow sweater and a pair of beige khakis.  
  
"Geez Lita," Mina said as a smile crept across her face, "we're all a little on edge, but you could at least wait until we're up the stairs."  
  
Lita gave a quick laugh and relaxed a little bit. She watched as Mina made her way towards the fire pit. Raye had started a fire earlier and had been throwing into the fire pit freshly fallen leaves she had been sweeping up.  
  
Mina now stood next to the pit with her hands held over it. A sudden gust of wind caused her skirt and her long blond hair to whip about wildly. The red bow on top of Mina's head threatened to blow away. She squealed loudly as she reached up and grabbed it, holding onto it desperately.  
  
The flames of the fire flickered and the light bounced around the courtyard. Amy walked across the courtyard and sat down on the steps next to Lita. She bent over and pulled her sweater tight around her body. She crossed her arms and leaned them against her knees. She stared straight ahead, into the fire.  
  
Raye walked over to Amy and sat down next to her. Artemis and Luna sat between Amy and Lita, a position where they could easily see everybody.  
  
"Alright," Raye said, "where should we start?"  
  
Raye looked around at everyone; each girl's face was blank.  
  
"Look," Raye said loud enough for all of them to hear, "I know there's a lot to talk about, but we have to start somewhere."  
  
"How's Serena?" Lita asked quietly.  
  
Raye turned her head to look at Lita "She's doing fine," she replied. "I mean, there was definitely something wrong with the food, and I'm pretty sure that waitress was responsible, but Serena is perfectly alright."  
  
"And the baby?" Lita asked.  
  
"The baby is as healthy as her mother," Raye said with a smile.  
  
Mina turned to look at Raye. "What exactly is it that happened to her?"  
  
"Well," Raye said, "during the blood test, the people at the hospital discovered traces of Laudanum in her bloodstream."  
  
Amy lifted her head and looked at Raye. "You mean someone gave her opium?"  
  
Raye nodded her head in acknowledgement, and looked to Mina and then Lita. "Basically, she was poisoned." she said. "Whoever did it knew what they were doing, too. That compound is highly toxic, in a concentrated form. My thoughts are whoever did it definitely would have put in enough to kill Serena, because it would have only taken about the tip of a spoonful to knock her dead."  
  
"So what you're saying," Luna said, "is that she should have died, right?"  
  
Raye closed her eyes and whispered quietly, "Yes."  
  
Lita turned her head towards Raye. "So what happened? I mean, she is still alive, so what was it that kept her from dying?"  
  
Raye looked up at Lita. "We still don't know. There was only a miniscule amount of the substance in her bloodstream people at the hospital think that it could have come from anywhere."  
  
"Well that's all well and good," Artemis said to Raye, "but what do you believe?"  
  
"Well, there's no evidence to support the fact that there was more than just enough to make her pass out. I just know when someone is poisoned, and Serena definitely looked it when I left to call for help"  
  
Raye stood up and walked to the fire. She turned around and looked to Artemis. "As for how she was healed, personally," she said, "I think that 'Sailor Moon' had something to do with it."  
  
Lita moved away from the wall and sat down next to Amy, where Raye had been before. "Well," Lita said as she sat down, "that brings us to the next topic; just who was that?"  
  
Lita looked around at everybody else. "Any thoughts?"  
  
Mina turned towards Lita. "Well, this isn't the first time somebody has posed as Sailor Moon. Zoesite did it once, the same night I met you guys. Even that weirdo Zirconia managed to fool us like that. Do you think whoever sent that monster sent the 'Sailor Moon' too?"  
  
Raye shook her head. "No," she said, "it wouldn't make sense. Why would he send someone to kill Serena, and then send someone to heal her?"  
  
Mina shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know," she said as she turned back towards the fire, "it's just a thought."  
  
"Does anybody remember the Moonlight Knight?" Artemis asked out of nowhere.  
  
The girls all answered Yes.  
  
"Well," he said, "if I remember correctly, it turned out that the Moonlight Knight was Darien's unconscious desire to protect Serena - his courage - given life. Could there be something like that going on here?"  
  
Raye spoke up immediately. "It's possible: Serena's spirit fighting to protect her life and the life of her unborn child. But how would you explain the fact that this spirit was most likely responsible for healing Serena? I mean, Sailor Moon's powerful, but she's never manifested that kind of power before."  
  
Artemis laughed softly. "I guess you're right," he said. "But it wouldn't be the first time she surprised us. Stranger things have happened."  
  
Raye nodded in agreement. She turned back towards the fire.  
  
"I think we should talk about the man Raye saw inside that thing's head." Luna said.  
  
"Yeah, Raye," Lita said in agreement, "what exactly was it that you saw?"  
  
Raye was biting the nail of her thumb, a bad habit she had picked up as a child and could never shake off, especially when she was deep in thought.  
  
"Well," she replied, "when I reached into the waitresses' mind, at first it was completely dark, except for the one burning desire to kill Serena. What I didn't realize until just now, is that the waitress knew - Serena, Sailor Moon, the Moon princess - they were all the same. Whoever sent her knows about her life as all of these, and it leads me to believe he knows all about us too.  
  
"Anyway, after several moments of searching for something, the landscape inside her mind changed dramatically. It looked like I was floating above a street downtown. I looked around, and everything seemed to be normal, except for the figure of a man completely shrouded in darkness. Everyone in the street took no notice of him or me."  
  
"He spread his hands out over the street, and the asphalt began to crack. A dark crystal burst out of the ground, about the size of a small car. He reached out and broke a piece of the crystal off and hid it in the folds if his cloak. The crystal disappeared, and the scenery around me began to disappear, but he remained."  
  
"He turned around and looked straight at me. Before I knew what was happening, he was standing in front of me and grabbed me by the neck."  
  
"It was really creepy. He told me that he knew I was a Sailor Scout, and that we were all going to die."  
  
Raye paused for a moment to allow her last remark to sink in. She started up again:  
  
"Then, a power I can't begin to fathom flung me out of the waitresses' mind and back into my body.  
  
Raye looked around at the others. She smiled weakly and turned back to face the fire. "Gee," Mina said quietly to herself. She turned to look at Artemis and Luna. "Do you two know anything about this guy?"  
  
Artemis and Luna looked to each other and back to Mina. "No" Artemis said simply.  
  
"What Artemis meant to say," Luna said angrily, "is that we've never heard of this guy before. During the Silver Millennium, there weren't very many people that opposed Queen Serenity's rule or caused discord in the empire. Most of what we heard stories of you girls have already faced."  
  
Lita looked down at the two cats. "I think we should consider the possibility of this being someone completely new to the 'evil being bent on killing us and destroying everything that's good and pure in the universe' category."  
  
Luna smiled at Lita's comment. "You're right," she replied. "It isn't impossible for things like that to happen to normal people." Luna looked around at the girls and smiled. "They all have to start off somewhere, right?"  
  
"And what about the crystal?" Mina asked. "What was that all about?"  
  
"Well," Raye said, "I know it sounds weird, but I think the street I was on was the same one Prince Diamond and Wicked Lady used to invade the Earth."  
  
Lita's eyes grew wide at Raye's comment. "You mean that crystal was the same one that the Wiseman almost destroyed the Earth with?"  
  
Raye looked up at Lita. "I think so," she said.  
  
Lita closed her eyes and gently rubbed her forehead. "I think I'm getting a headache."  
  
All of the girls laughed, except for Amy, who was staring at the ground in silence. Luna turned to look at Amy. "What do you think of all this Amy? You haven't said a word all night."  
  
Amy remained motionless and remained quiet. She seemed to be staring off into space, totally lost in her thoughts.  
  
"Amy," Luna said in a concerned voice, "are you alright?"  
  
Artemis, Lita, Mina and Raye all turned towards Amy in concern. Lita moved closer to her, and Mina and Raye moved towards her from the fire.  
  
"I." Amy trailed off. She remained completely motionless, still staring at the ground. "There's something I think you guys should know," she said quietly.  
  
Mina and Raye kneeled down in front of her. Lita placed her hand on Amy's knee as she spoke.  
  
"I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it." Amy looked up from the ground and turned her head to look at each of the people gathered around her.  
  
"That waitress, the one that turned into the monster? Well, she's missing."  
  
The girls looked back and forth at each other. "What does that mean?" Mina asked.  
  
"Well, it could mean one of three things," Amy said, still staring at the ground.  
  
"One, she could just have taken off. You know, her lover came and swept her away on an unexpected, but welcome vacation and that weird guy just took advantage of it."  
  
"Two, the Nega-Verse could have kidnapped her and sent a monster in her form to fight with us. They've kidnapped people before, and we know nothing about this new threat, so she could be hidden away somewhere, which is definitely possible and we should follow up on it."  
  
Amy stopped talking and brought her hand up to cover her face. Tears welled in her eyes, and she began to sob. Lita put her arm around Amy's shoulder. Raye knelt down in front of Amy and pulled her hands away from her face.  
  
"Amy," Raye said, her voice quavering, "what's the third possibility?"  
  
Amy looked into Raye's eyes, and she stopped sobbing. The tears still ran freely down her face, and she said very quietly, "There's a possibility that the thing we fought actually was the waitress, meaning..."  
  
"Meaning," Lita said quietly, "when that 'Sailor Moon' dusted her, she actually killed the waitress."  
  
Amy began to sob again. The girls were completely shocked.  
  
Raye shook her head. She leaned forwards and wrapped her arms around Amy and hugged her tightly. Lita looked up at Mina, each noticing the tears rising in each other's eyes.  
  
Mina lowered herself to the ground, trying to keep herself from falling over.  
  
Artemis and Luna stood up. Artemis ran over to Mina and jumped in her lap. Luna sat down on Lita's lap.  
  
"We can't consider that possibility," Luna said as she looked around to each girl. "We have to hope that fate wouldn't allow something like that to happen."  
  
Amy pushed Raye away from her and looked angrily at Luna. "How do you know that?" she asked. "Something like this has never happened. Every other time we knew to transform the person back to normal. We never even considered the possibility that the waitress was a human being. We just let loose completely."  
  
Mina stood up and glared at Amy. "Amy," she said angrily, "We didn't have anything to do with it. You can't blame us or yourself. That thing nearly killed Serena, and the rest of us almost didn't make it either. We did what we had to do. And it wasn't even us that did it. That 'Sailor Moon' spirit, impostor, whoever it was, it was her that finished that thing off."  
  
Mina turned away from the group and walked to the fire. "You can't blame us."  
  
Amy stood up and slowly walked towards Mina. Amy tried to look at Mina, but Mina kept avoiding her gaze.  
  
Amy looked down at the ground and sighed. "Mina, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put the blame on us. I know it wasn't our fault."  
  
Mina still wasn't looking at Amy, but there were tears running down her face, and she was holding back her crying.  
  
"Look," Amy said, "I know you only did what you had to do. All I'm saying is that we should have considered the possibilities before we lashed out like we did."  
  
Mina looked at Amy angrily. "No," she said, "you're right. We should have held back. We should have waited and figured it all out. But we didn't, because our best friend was dying at our feet, and I know I wanted that monster dead. I wanted her dead, just like I'm sure you did."  
  
Amy looked up at Mina. "Mina, I."  
  
"No," Mina interrupted, "I'm sorry, but I just can't believe that you wouldn't do the same thing."  
  
Mina sighed and looked down at the ground. "I think I'm just trying to justify what happened. I just can't stand the thought of that poor girl being so violated. She must have been so scared, and we should have saved her. But now she's dead"  
  
Amy reached out and embraced Mina. Mina remained still for a moment, but she eventually reached up and took Amy's hand in her own. The two smiled at each other, and they walked back to the stairs and sat down next to Lita and Raye.  
  
Raye looked at Mina. "You're right about that girl being violated," she said. "We can't mourn for her now; we shouldn't, because there's still hope. She could still be out there somewhere."  
  
Raye placed her hand on Mina's shoulder. "Believe me, I didn't feel any traces of a human being inside that mind before I was attacked. I'm positive it wasn't her."  
  
"Well," Luna spoke up, "we can't just sit here and cry all night. We have to make a plan to find and rescue that girl, and stop that creep before he really hurts Serena."  
  
"Before we get off the subject," Lita said, "what about all of the people in the Café? Are they all right?"  
  
Raye turned to look at Lita. "Oh, they're fine. They didn't react to anything in the restaurant most likely because they were hypnotized by the waitress, or something along those lines. As for the people in the street, the only person in any danger was the guy she grabbed, and he's just suffering from a really nasty bruise to his voice box."  
  
The girls grew quiet, and they remained quiet for a long time, holding each other, offering a small amount of comfort to each other.  
  
They all hoped that the girl was all right, but deep down, they all seemed to know there was no hope.  
  
The girls hadn't talked much longer. They decided on waiting until the mysterious man attacked again. They agreed that one of them should be with Serena at all times, just in case.  
  
Amy left in a hurry. She planned on making a program on her computer that would trace the girl, wherever she was. She was very hopeful about it, but she was still upset over the whole thing.  
  
The moon had just risen and was shining brightly; it's light gave an eerie glow the temple courtyard. Raye had just finished sweeping away the leaves that had fallen off the trees. She lifted the pile and dumped it into the fire pit. The fire had died out long ago, but it didn't matter anyway. Raye was sure to light the fire again tomorrow.  
  
Raye picked up the broom from the ground, placed her two hands on the top, and rested her head on her hands. She sighed softly and looked towards the sky. The stars were twinkling brightly, except, of course, for the planets, which didn't tinkle at all.  
  
She glanced to a point in the sky, just the right of the Moon. There's Mars, she thought as she smiled to herself.  
  
Raye looked around, trying to see if there were any other planets in view. She thought she could see Mercury, and she was guessing the one on the horizon was Venus, but that was all she could recognize.  
  
She knelt down. She placed her hand on the ground to steady herself and she sat on the pavement, still warm from the autumn sun. She looked up at the sky again.  
  
The stars were still twinkling; the moon was still shining brightly.  
  
Raye liked to do this after a long day. She would sit down, look to the stars and try to remember the big picture. It helped her clear her mind if she was worrying about something, especially if that thing was her best friend lying in the hospital.  
  
Raye was about the sigh, but she caught herself before she did. Sometimes, she thought to herself, my life feels like one gigantic sigh.  
  
Raye lifted her arm and looked at her wristwatch. She lowered her hand and pushed herself up. Well, no matter. Time goes on, and I have things to do.  
  
Raye began to walk towards the house, picking the broom off the ground as she went. She walked up the front steps and propped the broom up next to the door as she pushed the door open.  
  
She quickly stepped inside, closing the door behind her and turning the lock. She didn't expect any visitors tonight, well, visitors that would come to her front door anyway. But being a warrior against evil, she always liked to be careful.  
  
Of course, she thought to herself, how many times has an enemy knocked on my door? Well, there was that one time with Catsi, but that's just being picky.  
  
Raye turned on the lights and walked down the hall towards her Grandpa's room. She approached the door as quietly, knowing that her Grandpa was a very light sleeper.  
  
She pulled the door aside very slowly. She peered into the dark room, hearing Grandpa before she saw him.  
  
Raye tiptoed inside and knelt down next to his bed. Grandpa was lying on the bed, his snoring loud yet muffled by the copy of "Plato's Republic" covering his face. His blankets were bunched up at the end of the bed, and his feet were dangling off the side.  
  
Raye smiled as she pushed him up onto the bed and pulled the covers over him. She leant down and kissed him on the forehead and left the room as he continued his snoring.  
  
Raye closed the door behind her and moved down the hall, towards the center of the temple.  
  
She reached the door at the end of the hall and slid it open. She stepped into a small room with an old, wooden cabinet resting against the wall. A small stool was placed next to a fire pit that stood in the center of the room and was presently unlit.  
  
Raye walked over the fire pit and held her hand over it. Her brow furrowed in concentration, her fingers twitched slightly. The wood inside the pit suddenly burst into flame. A bright orange light filled the room and danced across the walls. Raye moved behind the pit and knelt down in from of it.  
  
She held her arms out towards the fire, palms facing up. She closed her eyes and relaxed her body. She cleared her mind of all thought, and she began to meditate.  
  
She remained silent for a long time, keeping completely still. The silence filled the room; the only sound was that of the fire burning brightly. The light reflected off of Raye's face.  
  
The silence of the room was broken by the door creaking open. Raye opened her eyes to see Luna standing in the doorway.  
  
"Please, Luna, come in."  
  
Luna slowly stepped into the room. She moved to stand next to Raye and looked up at her.  
  
"You said you wanted to talk about something?" she asked.  
  
Raye turned to face the cabinet resting against the wall. Luna watched as Raye opened wide the cabinet doors.  
  
Luna gasped at the contents of the cabinet. "Raye," she whispered, "what is all this? What's going on?"  
  
"Luna," Raye asked, her back still facing Luna, "did Queen Serenity every tell you about the origins of our powers?"  
  
The question surprised Luna. For a moment, all she could do was look at Raye with in astonishment. "Honestly, Raye," Luna said as she drew nearer to Raye, "I've never thought about it."  
  
Luna leapt up and sat on the stool Raye was kneeling next to. Luna looked up at Raye, and then back to the cabinet full of so many strange items.  
  
Raye was trembling; the way people tremble when they're about to have a conversation they aren't ready to have.  
  
"Well?" Raye asked, her voice quavering.  
  
Luna closed her eyes for a moment, becoming still and silent. She opened her eyes and looked up at Raye. "No, Raye. Queen Serenity never did discuss the origins of your power."  
  
Raye seemed to become slightly more uncomfortable, but Luna didn't notice; she was to busy wondering why Raye asked such a question. "Honestly, I never really asked her, mainly because I always assumed that the power was yours."  
  
Raye stood up and walked towards the corner of the room where a pile of wood had been neatly stacked. She picked up one of the logs and, walking back towards the fire, threw it into the pit.  
  
Luna watched as Raye reached into the cabinet she had opened earlier and pulled out a small leather bag. "Raye," Luna said, the concern in her voice growing stronger, "what's going on?"  
  
"What do you mean by ours?" Raye asked, ignoring Luna's question. Raye clutched the leather bag tightly in her hand as she watched the flames of the fire flickering.  
  
Luna looked more and more perplexed, but she decided that it would be best for her just to answer Raye's questions. "I'm not sure how to answer that," she said.  
  
"Basically, as individuals, the powers you have come from somewhere deep inside you. It's just something you were born with."  
  
Raye clutched the bag in her hand tighter. She began to speak, staring vigilantly at the burning flames:  
  
"Luna, what I'm about to tell you may shock you, but I want you to promise you won't tell the others, not until I'm absolutely sure of it all."  
  
Luna remained quiet for a moment before she shook her head in acknowledgement.  
  
Raye seemed to relax slightly before she began to speak.  
  
"What you said about our powers, about them being a part of us as Sailor Scouts, it's right Luna, but only partially. But before I talk about that, there's something you need to understand about me."  
  
"When I turned twenty, my grandfather opened this cabinet, which had always remained locked, and I was never told what was in it. When I opened it, and I saw all this and he told me. He told me I am a witch."  
  
"For generations, it seems, my family has kept this secret to themselves, away from the prying eyes of the public. They had all secretly become witches."  
  
"Now, in using the term witch, I mean it in a very broad way. I'm not ugly and green with a propensity towards young girls and their little dogs, and a very exaggerated allergy to water."  
  
"I am a user of magic. My family kept this ability secret, yet they explored it and developed it with a wild passion. With each and every generation, the powers my family harnessed grew greater. There seemed to be no limit to what we could do."  
  
"They recorded all of their knowledge in the books you see lying in that cabinet. Every idea, every spell that any of my family ever had is written in those books. My family's history over the last sixteen generations is documented there. Being an orphan, that means a great deal to me, to know where I come from. It gives me a sense of belonging."  
  
"My mother before me was a witch, as was her mother, and so on. And since my mother died before I had the chance to really know her, my grandfather took it upon himself to teach me all her could about my heritage."  
  
"But about the powers I have as a witch, I've had them for as long as I can remember. It seems that the gifts I have are very strong on the female side of my family, and though it isn't unnatural to see them on the male side, they are definitely more prominent in women. We just don't know why they appear the way they do."  
  
"When you first met me, you came to realize I have psychic powers. I could sense the future in a vague way, I could read people's thoughts to a degree, and I had been able to cast one or two spells. These spells were nothing but a reflex as a witch, which you and I believed to be a part of my heritage from my life as Sailor Mars. No, these powers were natural in my human family. They always seemed like a natural part of me, very unlike the powers I have as a Scout."  
  
"You knew that I had these powers, yet what you didn't know then and don't know now, and this is of great importance in understanding the abilities of my family, is that I can also see things, things that normal people just can't see."  
  
"Sometimes, these things I see are the souls of humans that once lived: ghosts, essentially. They wander about aimlessly, causing very little harm, usually just a scare here or there. The very rarely bother me, since they are very odd occurrences, even in a city as old as Tokyo.  
  
"However, much more frequently, I see what my family calls spirits. These spirits aren't the ghosts of humans: they have never been human. No, they are something all together different."  
  
"As witches, my family used these spirits to cast their spells. I've learned that they're essential for any spell to be successful. The greatest understanding my family had of them is that they are some sort of elemental beings, acting almost like gateways to powers that, even to us as Sailor Scouts, are simply astonishing."  
  
"Like I said, there was really only speculation as to what these spirits were, and how they could allow us to do the things we do. However, never had any member of my family really come closer to the truth than I believe I have."  
  
"What I believe is that these spirits, or elementals, are in fact pieces of a larger whole. Think of them almost as tiny flame; they're all made of the same substance, they are all individuals, yet they can return to the larger flame and become part of it again, only to separate once more.  
  
"This larger flame - the source of the spirits - is the 'life-force' of the planet, the Gaia. The Gaia, commonly referred to as 'Mother Earth', is the essence of the planet's energy. If the planet were considered alive, the Gaia would be its very soul."  
  
"So, what I'm trying to say, is that as a witch, and as all witches do, I tap into the power of the Earth to create my magic."  
  
"I know what you're thinking, too. You're thinking, 'But how can she be tapping into the Earth's energy? She's Sailor Mars, and if she's tapping into any planet, it is Mars.' Well, once again Luna, you're only half right."  
  
"You see, back in the Silver Millennium, there were colonies of humans on all of the planets, and that was the way things were for time immemorial."  
  
"You said once that as Sailor Scouts and members of Princess Serenity's court, we were princesses of our own respective planets. Since Darien's power is tied up in the Earth, I assumed that the power of each planet is tied up in the royal bloodline. "  
  
"Now, back in the Silver Millennium, we did draw upon the power of our planets. It would be foolishness to believe that our planets didn't have Gaia's of their own."  
  
"When Queen Beryl defeated the Moon Kingdom, which we were present for, Queen Serenity sent our souls to be reincarnated in the future on Earth, choosing not to destroy Beryl because that would mean the destruction of our souls as well."  
  
"When we were born on Earth, our souls remained the same, so we, as Sailor Scouts, were still able to draw on the powers of our planets, as we had so long ago. But, and this is a big but, because we were born on Earth, we instinctively drew not only on the power of our planets, but on the power of Earth as well."  
  
"Since my soul was born into a bloodline that carries an extremely strong bond to the Earth's Gaia, a line of witches, I draw more upon it that any of the other of the Scouts do."  
  
"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm bringing all of this up now. I'm getting to that, but there are still some things I need to explain."  
  
"The way my magic works, I call upon these spirits, these living pieces of the Earth's Gaia, and by asserting my will over theirs, I command them to do my will. Basically, they are doing most of the work. I tap into the power myself, and I use this power to become more attractive to them, to prove to them that I am part of them and that they should help me in my endeavors."  
  
"I tell them what I wish to be done, and because I have the power of the Gaia, they listen to me and they obey my commands."  
  
"I have the ability to tap into this power, but it takes more than just the ability to do so. All of us witches tend to build our sanctuaries near or on what we call ley lines."  
  
"These ley lines, if I had to describe them simply, are the arteries or veins of the Gaia. They run through the Earth in abundance, and they are, to a witch, an easy access to the power we need to cast our spells. This very temple is built on one of these lines."  
  
"It is the current state of these ley lines that concern me."  
  
"You see, during the course of my life, I have spent my time trying to understand this great power that I felt around me at all times. Over several years, I became accustomed to the feel of that energy, and I grew to know it very deeply. I know the way it shifts, and the way it empowers me. This feeling was strengthened when my grandfather revealed my heritage to me and I began to experiment with my powers."  
  
"Lately, the ley lines seem to be in distress. No, I use the word 'distress' too loosely. You have to understand, these ley lines are a part of me, and this whole ordeal is rather upsetting. No, I suppose just saying they have been acting strange lately is good enough."  
  
"I have to tell you, this is something quite uncommon. There is very little mentioned about this by my family, and it has taken quite a bit of meditation to understand what is going on. The only thing I can figure is that something very bad is going on."  
  
"It has something to do with that man I told you about, the one I encountered while we were fighting that waitress downtown, I'm sure of it. Somehow, when he touched me, I realized that he was responsible for the ley lines acting strangely."  
  
"I simply do not know what it could be that he is doing to upset the ley lines like this. The very concept boggles my mind, but more importantly, to be doing this, he has to be extremely powerful, more powerful then anything the Scouts have faced before, Luna."  
  
"There is one more thing that I should tell you about."  
  
Raye grunted as she rose to her feet. She looked down at the leather bag, which she had retrieved from her cabinet before she began her story.  
  
She opened the small bag up and, as Luna watched with powerful curiosity, Raye reached in the bag and pulled out her hand, now closed as if she held something in it.  
  
She held her hand over the fire in front of her and began to chant in a language Luna didn't recognize. Luna noticed the air in the room began to grow thicker, and it started to whirl around Raye. The fire grew in intensity, and Raye's chanting grew louder as she opened her hand and released a powder that she had been holding.  
  
The fire leapt towards the ceiling, and Luna heard the unmistakable sound of wailing, but it was unlike anything she had ever heard.  
  
Raye stood over the fire, her eyes were clenched tightly and her hands were twitching. She opened her eyes and whispered softly to Luna, "There, in the fire!"  
  
Luna peered into the fire. For a moment, she could see nothing but the flames, but suddenly one of the flames took the form of a hand and shot out towards her.  
  
Luna screamed and leapt backwards. She landed behind the stool she was sitting on, her legs stuck up in the air and twitching wildly. She shot up onto her feet and ran behind Raye.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Luna yelled at Raye, who was concentrating on the fire in front of her.  
  
"Please Luna," she said, her eyes closed and her brow furrowed in concentration, "I'm trying to concentrate. This is very delicate work."  
  
Luna looked back into the flames. She could now see several distinct forms writhing about in the flames, but they seemed completely ensnared. They looked like floating skulls wreathed in flame.  
  
"What you're seeing now are the 'fallen ones'," Raye said as she turned her head to look at Luna.  
  
"Have you ever read Milton's "Paradise Lost"? If you haven't, basically, it's the story of Satan's fall from grace, his attempts at taking over heaven, and his eventual banishment to Hell."  
  
"These spirits I have conjured and trapped in the flames are the spirits of the Gaia that have grown apart from it, and draw on a different energy."  
  
"For whatever reasons, some spirits, once they separate from the Gaia, become extremely embittered, and they turn against the Gaia."  
  
"It is very similar to Satan's 'Fall from Grace'. The only thing I don't know is from where they draw this new power. All of the spirits that separate from the Gaia still need to draw power from it, yet when these spirits separate and become evil, they must draw their energy from some other source, a source that is far more sinister."  
  
"As you can see, these spirits are quite edgy. Usually, they are petty demons that are but minor annoyances. However, since the ley lines have begun to act strangely, they have become more agitated, and much more active in their mischief."  
  
"For eons, there have been witches trying to tap into this dark energy source that the fallen ones have attached themselves to. They are known as the evil magicians, strictly because this power can only be used to bring harm to others, and it is a great and terrible power beyond all reckoning."  
  
"Whereas the spirits I call upon do my bidding through trust and familiarity, the evil spirits require something much more personal: the demand a price for their services. These spirits would be completely satisfied with the tainting of your soul the use of the dark power results in."  
  
"As for their involvement in the present situation, the only thing I can guess is that this new enemy we are facing is a magician of the highest order, and he is tapping into this dark source that the fallen spirits are tapping into. The use of this dark energy must somehow be upsetting the Gaia."  
  
"This person that is using the dark energy source cannot possibly understand the consequences of tapping into it. Not only is his soul going to be forever tainted, he has no control over these forces. He may think he has control, but these forces are wild and unpredictable. There is probably some hidden agenda he knows nothing about, and the dark energy is just using him to fulfil this agenda."  
  
"That's why we need to stop him. His plans may be petty and jealous, but the dark force may have something much more destructive in mind. Most likely, the destruction of the Gaia is it's intent. By destroying the Gaia, the Earth and all life on it would wither away."  
  
Raye looked back to the fire. She dropped her arms to her sides, and the demons inside the flames slowly disappeared, howling all the while.  
  
Raye sat down in front of the fire and closed the leather pouch she had in her hand. She turned to look at Luna, who had her eyes closed and was deep in thought.  
  
"That's an awful lot to process, you know," Luna said as she opened her eyes and looked towards Raye.  
  
"I know," Raye replied. "It's not like there's a choice to be made about all this, or anything. You can just think about it for a while if you think there are any questions you need to ask me."  
  
Raye sat back in her chair next to the wall and once again stared into the fire. Luna looked back towards the cabinet full of the arcane artefacts that Raye's family had accumulated over so many generations.  
  
She saw leather bound books with tassels hanging on the corners, ceremonial daggers with sparkling jewels embedded in the handles. There were hundreds of small glass jars; most were filled with some kind of herb or plant. Some were filled with the vilest concoctions Luna had ever seen in her life, and she had seen Serena's cooking.  
  
Luna looked at all of this, noting especially the small black cauldron lying in the corner, but nothing caught her attention more than the skull, the human skull, lying on one of the shelves.  
  
Luna moved closer to the cabinet. The closer she got, the clearer the skull became. She soon realized that on the skull, there was some kind of language etched into the bone that wrapped all around the grotesque thing.  
  
Luna backed away from the cabinet, turning away so she couldn't see it at all anymore. "This is kind of creepy, Raye," Luna said as she moved away from the cabinet. "I really don't know what to make of all this."  
  
Raye looked away from the fire, towards Luna. She stood up from the stool and moved over towards her, lifting her up and lacing her gently on her shoulder. Raye went back to the cabinet and placed the leather pouch back in it's spot, next to the skull, and closed the doors, locking them with a key she pulled out from the folds in her robes.  
  
Raye turned away from the cabinet and headed towards the door.  
  
"Luna," Raye said, staring forward as she talked, "You have to realize that I know this was going to creep you out. I know that you'll only get more inquisitive and shocked after you leave here. But I had to tell you. I need to know what you think of the whole thing."  
  
Raye moved through the doorway and closed the door behind her. She once again pulled her key from her robe and used it to lock the door to the room they had just been in. Raye put the key back in her robe, and turned her head to look at Luna. Luna was confused, and she looked like she was in deep thought.  
  
"Luna please," Raye said after several tense moments of silence, "I'm dying here."  
  
Luna snapped out of whatever she was in and smiled briefly.  
  
"Raye, you're right. This is important to know, and I'm glad you told me. I'd like to talk about it right now, but like you said, I need to think about all of this before I can give you any answers, but I need to ask a few questions before I go."  
  
Raye had taken Luna into the room next to the meditation room, her bedroom. She sat down on the bed and Luna jumped off of her shoulder and sat down next to her.  
  
"Go ahead," Raye said as she looked down at Luna.  
  
"Well, I guess the first question would have to be, why didn't you tell us about this sooner?"  
  
Raye thought about the question for a moment before she answered.  
  
"Well," she replied, "I guess I never told you because this part of my family has remained a secret for hundreds of years. They never told anybody. They rarely even told their spouses about it. I was just trying to protect that secret, like my family has done for so long."  
  
Luna nodded her head, very slowly, as if trying desperately to accept the answer.  
  
"I guess I can accept that," she said, still nodding. Luna stared down at the floor, trying to build up the courage to ask the next question.  
  
"So I guess," she said, her voice quavering, "that leads to my next question."  
  
Luna looked up at Raye. She was shaking; Luna could only guess what it was like talking about something you had kept secret for so long. She probably thinks she's betraying her family, Luna thought to herself.  
  
"Yeah, something like that," Raye said out loud.  
  
Luna mentally kicked herself for being so insensitive. I keep forgetting about that telepathy thing.  
  
Raye looked down at Luna. "Forget it. I shouldn't be so nosey."  
  
Luna smiled at Raye. "So, what was your next question?" Raye asked as she smiled back at Luna.  
  
"Are you going to tell the scouts?"  
  
The smile on Raye's face quickly disappeared. She knew that this question would come up, and she desperately tried to think of an answer before hand, but she found herself without a response.  
  
"You know," Luna said, "the decision is completely yours. I think you should tell them, I think they deserve to know what they're up against, and unfortunately, you have to tell them about your past just as you did with me. But if you don't want to tell them, it's alright."  
  
Raye looked down at Luna. "No," she said with a sigh, "you're right. They deserve to know. Besides, they're my best friends. Serena may not be a rocket scientist, but I'm sure she and the other's would realize something was different about me."  
  
Luan smiled back at Raye and leapt down off of the bed, and she headed for the door. "Luna?"  
  
Luna turned back to face Raye. Raye stood up and moved towards her. "Thanks for listening."  
  
Luna nodded and said, "No problem." She was about to leave the room when she moved closer to Raye.  
  
"Raye, you asked me before if Queen Serenity had told us anything about the origins of your powers as Sailor Scouts. I have to admit that whenever Artemis or I brought it up, she seemed rather defensive about the subject."  
  
"As your protector, I took it upon myself to learn all I could about you, including your powers. I thought if I knew the source you drew them from, I could more skilfully train you in the use of them, but every time I asked Serenity about them, she changed the subject, which more then once lead to very heated discussions."  
  
"However, there was one time she mentioned something quite odd about you girls. It was right after word of the disaster Queen Beryl had caused. Queen Serenity came to me and asked me several odd questions about the Sailor Scouts behaviour of late."  
  
"I told her that there was nothing wrong of different about you girls, and she seemed extremely relieved, or at least partially. I heard her then uttering under her breath. I asked what was troubling her, and all she said was, 'I feared they had escaped.'  
  
"I was extremely confused, for you girls had never been trapped anywhere. It was very strange indeed.  
  
Raye's face was expressionless. She just stared straight ahead, not moving, not speaking. Luna drew nearer to her. "Raye?"  
  
Raye shook her head and knelt down to speak to Luna. "It does sound strange, Luna, but I don't think it has any bearing on our current situation. However, I think we should talk more about it after this situation is passed."  
  
Luna nodded and moved towards the room. She stopped in the doorway, and began to laugh. "You do realize," she said, still laughing, "that you're talking to you're black cat about being a witch."  
  
Raye thought about it for a moment and began to laugh as well. "Yeah," she said, "I guess Fate does have a sense of humour."  
  
Luna smiled at Raye and left the room, still chuckling to herself. Raye listened carefully as Luna opened the back door and closed it quietly behind her.  
  
Raye sat back in her bed and reached over and turned the lamp off. She leaned back onto her pillow, but didn't pull the blankets over herself. She shut her eyes tightly and put her hands over her eyes, push down on them lightly, as if the pain she felt would release her mind from it's turmoil.  
  
She sighed loudly as she dropped her hands to her sides and opened her eyes. She stared at the ceiling and took in a deep breath.  
  
So, she thought to herself, either what Queen Serenity said meant nothing, and I'm just being paranoid, or my suspicions are true and Serenity knew about it. And if she knew about it, then that means we're doomed.  
  
Raye remained still for a moment, and then she sat up and reached for the phone sitting on the stand next to her bed. She dialled a number quickly. The phone rang several times before someone picked up.  
  
"Hello?" a voice asked from the other end of the line.  
  
"Hi, Mina. It's Raye. Look, I know it's late, and you were already here, but I think we need to talk." 


	6. Merciful Death

Chapter Five – Merciful Death 

-I used to see death as a release. Now, I see it as it is meant to be seen; a means to an end.

Alex leaned across the bed and pushed the tape into the VCR. It whirred loudly, hesitating for a moment before spiting the tape back out. Alex sighed loudly and let his head drop onto the covers of the bed.  
  
He lifted his head and looked around for the remote control. He rummaged through the covers, lifting them completely over his head and shaking them, hoping the remote was hidden somewhere in the folds of his comforter.  
  
Still unable to find it, he looked up into the covers above his head. Just as he looked up, the remote fell out of the comforter, straight at him. Quickly, he tried to move out of the way by leaning back, but it still managed to smash into his forehead.  
  
"Owwwwww!" he yelled as he fell off the bed and onto the floor, landing on his back as he reached up to touch his throbbing face. He rolled around on the floor, holding his head and muttering death threats to the inanimate object.  
  
He stopped rolling around and remained still for a moment, gazing up at the ceiling. He thought he saw stars, but he remembered he had just pasted those glow-in-the-dark stickers there yesterday, thinking it would be cool if he could see the night sky on his ceiling.  
  
He was about to stand up when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone laughing and clapping their hands. He turned to face the window and saw a girl sitting with one leg dangling inside the windowsill, the other still on the outside, remaining out of sight.  
  
She was young, about seventeen. She was very beautiful: her hair was long, down to the middle of her back, and it was chocolate brown. Her smile was revealing the dimples on each of her cheeks, and her pearly white teeth were showing. The light from the TV danced in her emerald green eyes, which were already glittering with amusement.  
  
"Bravo," the young girl said, a tinge of laughter still hugging her voice.  
  
Alex groaned loudly and pressed his hands down on his eyes, which caused another fit of laughter from the young girl. She swung her other leg inside the room and gripped the windowsill with her hands.  
  
"Oh, come on Alex," she said as she stood up and walked over to him, "It's not that bad. I mean, I'm sure there are bigger klutzes out there..."  
  
The girl smiled as she knelt down and leaned in close to Alex's ear, "...They're just really, really far away."  
  
She reached over and pulled Alex's hands away from his eyes. He opened his eyes and looked up at her, smiled and said, "Enter freely and of your own will."  
  
The girl dropped Alex's hands back onto his face and stood up. She walked over to the coverless bed and plopped down on it, leaning back onto the pillow. "Is that supposed to be some sort of prelude to the type of movie you rented?" the girl asked.  
  
Alex grunted loudly as he pushed himself up off the floor and crawled over to the bed. He was grinning from ear to ear, as he said, "No, it was just my subtle way of calling you a blood-sucking parasite. I said it because I knew you were the only person who would understand what it meant."  
  
The girl leaned forward. "At least I'm not the one that sucks the humour out of everything!" she whispered in Alex's ear.  
  
She reached behind her head and yanked at the pillow, swinging it in a wide arc towards Alex's head. The pillow made a loud, dull thump as it smashed into Alex's face. He fell backwards onto the floor and the girl leapt down after him, hitting him again and again with the pillow, laughing the whole time.  
  
Alex reached out and grabbed the pillow and wrenched it away from the girl, throwing it across the room. The girl leapt to her feet and tried to crawl over the bed in an attempt to retrieve it, giggling madly all the while. Alex stood up and tackled her, pinning her down on the bed and released a barrage of tickling. The girl screamed, trying not to laugh as she tried to push him off.  
  
Eventually, she managed to get him off of her, rolling him to her side and then once again, off the bed, making a loud thud as he hit the floor.  
  
"I am so SICK of falling off of this BED!" Alex screamed from the floor. The girl laughed and crawled over to the edge, looking down at him.  
  
"I guess you need some kind of guardrail then. You know, my sister's baby stopped sleeping in his crib. I could bring it over here for you."  
  
Alex sighed and stood up. He stared at the girl for a moment, who was trying-badly-to ignore Alex's gaze. He plopped down on the bed next to the girl, who was lying on her stomach with her arms in front of her face. Alex's hair was sticking out everywhere, except where he was holding it down, and he was breathing heavily. "Please, don't start that again," he said as a smile formed on his face.  
  
He reached out towards the VCR, turned the power on and pushed the tape inside. He lifted his legs onto the bed, and lay down on his stomach next to the girl.  
  
"Well, my dear Alex," the girl asked sarcastically, tilting her head to one side as she talked, "what motion picture will be playing at the Leary house tonight?"  
  
Alex reached down and picked up the remote from the floor. He pointed it at the VCR and pressed down on the power button. "Tonight, we will be examining the work of the great Steven Spielberg!"  
  
The girl rolled her eyes and rolled onto her back. "Oh, Alex, not again. We watch this guy every night." She twisted her head to look at Alex, hoping suddenly that her puppy dog eyes would work their magic. "If I have to see ET one more time, I'm personally going to find the damn little thing and turn him over to the authorities myself, in the vain hopes that the ending might possibly be slightly different."  
  
Alex laughed softly and looked at Joey. "Come on Joey, this is most likely the greatest producer of our time. I mean, the work he does is absolutely amazing. How could you not love it?"  
  
Joey rolled her eyes and put her hands to her forehead. She dropped her hands to her sides and pouted her lips. "Please?"  
  
Alex laughed at Joey. "No, Joey, you can't make me change my mind with those big eyes of yours and your pouty lips."  
  
Joey pouted her lips out ever so slightly and blinked several times. "Please," she whispered.  
  
Alex tried to keep a straight face, but eventually he rolled his eyes, sighed loudly and said, "Okay, you got me. We're not watching ET."  
  
Joey squealed in delight and threw her arms around Alex's neck. Once again, Alex laughed at her, but he still hugged her back. He pointed the remote control that was in his hand towards the TV and pressed play.  
  
The TV screen went from a bright blue to green. The usual FBI warning scrolled by, and the screen suddenly turned black. A very dark, classical ballad began to play, and Alex watched as Joey's eyes grew wider. The title appeared on the screen: Interview with the Vampire.  
  
Again, Joey let out a squeal of pure delight, and she turned to Alex and kissed him passionately on the cheek. "Oh, Alex, thank you sooo much" Joey said, grinning wildly as she looked back towards the screen.  
  
Alex shook his head. "I don't know what you get out of this movie," he stated. "It's just a bunch of whiney vampires roaming around killing each other."  
  
Joey let out a loud sound of disgust. "Look, just because there isn't a two foot tall alien with a speech impediment or forty foot tall dinosaurs romping around doesn't mean it isn't a good movie. And besides, if somebody would just read Anne Rice's books, he would realize just what this movie means to me."  
  
Joey stared intently at the screen.  
  
"I just don't understand what you see in it" Alex said, pushing the matter once again, only because he loved to argue with her.  
  
Joey sighed, grabbed the remote out of Alex's hand and paused the movie. "Look," she said sarcastically, "I'm not going to enjoy this movie if you keep talking, so lets get this over with, okay?"  
  
Alex shrugged and smiled at Joey. She whacked his arm with his hand, to which Alex responded with a laugh.  
  
"See, the vampires in Rice's world are creatures of romance." Joey said as she stared at the screen. "They may thrive on the on the blood of humans, but what's more important is that they thrive on the beauty of the natural world, including the beauty they see in humans. They see life for what it is, and the irony is that they didn't realize what life was until they lost it. They cherish every life they take because it represents what they lost. It's like for a brief moment, they recapture their lost humanity.  
  
"These vampires, especially Louis, are representative of all the loneliness people feel in their lives, especially the way we do in our wonderful years as adolescences. Louis' travels through the world are symbolic of our lives and the searching we do in our own souls to discover the part of ourselves that will sustain us throughout our lives. Each of these vampires represents something different. Louis represents perfect sorrow. Claudia represents our resentments towards anyone who interferes in our lives. Armand represents the selfish part of ourselves that wants to keep what we love, despite the consequences. Santiago represents the sadistic part of us that takes pleasure in the pain of others."  
  
Alex stopped smiling and just stared blankly at Joey. "Gee Joey, it sounds like you haven't got much hope for us as humans."  
  
Joey shook her head. "I know it sounds bad, but it's not. Realize, these people are at odds with everything. They're showing us the horrible path these feelings would lead us down if we let them take over."  
  
"What about Lestat?" Alex asked.  
  
Joey smiled. "Ahh, so you have been paying attention. The thing about Lestat is that he is the central character of the movie, even though most people are inclined to believe Louis is. Lestat represents a very wide array of human emotions; hate, jealousy, greed, lust. But mainly, Lestat represents love."  
  
Alex laughed sarcastically. "Love?"  
  
Joey nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Yes, Alex, love. Lestat loves Louis and Claudia, but he's afraid to show them that love because he's scared they wouldn't return it. He's so afraid of this; he acts like they mean nothing to him, even though they actually mean everything to him."  
  
"So," Alex said as he stared at the frozen TV screen, "Lestat represents unrequited love."  
  
Joey smiled at Alex. "Alex, you always know the perfect thing to say. Yes, that's exactly it. Unrequited love: the most painful love of all."  
  
The two teenagers remained silent for a long moment as they gazed into each other's eyes. They looked at each other and smiled, each laughing quickly, as if the noise they made would somehow interrupt the uncomfortable silence they were experiencing.  
  
Suddenly, Alex moved off the bed and stood up. "Hey," he said to Joey, "I'm gonna go make some popcorn, okay?"  
  
Joey nodded her head, "Okay."  
  
Alex turned slowly, hesitating as he looked at Joey, who had turned away from him and was gazing intently at the TV screen. He watched as she brushed the hair away from her eyes; he cringed slightly from the passion he felt for her. Joey closed her eyes and sighed loudly. She rested her head on her hands, watching as the light from the television flickered across her face.  
  
Alex turned around and moved into the hall, but he twisted and leaned his back against the wall as soon as he was sure Joey couldn't see him. He closed his eyes and his lips burst into a smile. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the love he felt for her.  
  
Alex had always believed in true love. This was the perfect moment; the perfect example. He was filled with a kind of tingling warmth and he just couldn't stop smiling. He loved her so much; he had never loved anything more, and he knew he would never would.  
  
He sighed happily, and he pushed himself away from the wall. He bounded down the stairs as he made his way to the kitchen, as thoughts of simply being next to her filled his thoughts.  
  
The scene between the two teenagers froze. It was floating in mid-air, like a projection, only it was being projected onto darkness.  
  
Loki sat on a simple couch, just big enough for two people, and stared at Joey, who was staring at the television with those big, soft eyes. He remembered everything about her suddenly. The way she bit her bottom lip when she was nervous, the way she brushed her hair out of her eyes all the time, the way she smelled.  
  
He missed her more than anything.  
  
"Isn't that a wonderful scene?" a mysterious voice said out-loud.  
  
Loki remained unmoved, almost as if he hadn't heard the voice. But he had.  
  
"Oh, come now Loki. You could at least say hello to me," the voice said.  
  
A woman moved out of the darkness next to the image of Joey. She had red long hair, the colour of blood. Her dress was a dark purple, and it seemed to meld into the floor. Her eyes were dark, and her smile showed a faint glimpse of fang teeth.  
  
"I mean," the figure said to Loki, "I am your mother."  
  
Loki turned his head away from Beryl. The image of Joey remained in the air, and Beryl moved next to the couch and stared at the young girl intently. "Oh, how touching," she said, a wild grin still on her face. "She is quite beautiful," she said as she leaned closer to the picture, "but you were a little naïve, weren't you? All that 'true love' mush is enough to make any sensible person blush."  
  
Loki rose from the couch and began to walk away. Beryl appeared in front of him, her hand held out, which she laid on his chest. "Loki, you can't just walk away from me," she said as he looked away once again.  
  
"Mother," Loki said without looking at her, "you have to leave me alone. I just.I can't do this anymore."  
  
He backed away from her and went back to the couch and sat down, looking once again towards the image floating in the air. Beryl appeared on the couch next to Loki.  
  
"So who is she?" Beryl asked curiously. Loki turned his head to look at Beryl, who was mocking his serious face by wearing one of her own. He stared at her for a moment before turning away in disgust.  
  
"You can't keep appearing like this," Loki said. He stood up and moved away from the couch. Beryl remained seated, but she lifted her arm, resting it on the head of the sofa and turned towards Loki, even though he wasn't looking at her.  
  
"You're destroying me. I can't keep doing these things you tell me to do." Loki turned and rushed towards the couch. He sat next to Beryl and took her hand.  
  
"I love you, you're my mother, but you can't ask me to do the things you're asking me to do. I don't want to do them anymore."  
  
Beryl reached out and took Loki's face in her hands. She pulled his head towards her chest, she stroked his hair and whispered his name over and over again.  
  
"Oh Loki," she said with a sigh as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, "I'm you're only family. I only ask of you what I know you're capable of. Don't you want revenge on those who separated us, on those who made me leave you alone."  
  
Loki cried softly for a moment. Beryl looked down him, smiling wickedly. Loki pushed himself away from her and stood up. He turned around to face her, anger burning away the tears.  
  
"Stop it!" he screamed at her as loudly as he could muster. "You can't just waltz in here and try to become a part of my life. It's inconceivable. You abandoned me, you died, and you didn't come back, even when I prayed you would. When I needed you the most, you weren't there.  
  
"Now, all of a sudden, as soon as these goddamn powers of mine appear, so do you. You're a figment of my imagination, and if you're not, then you're just trying to take advantage of me. You tell me to do these things for you, and they're not right.  
  
"You know, there are two parts inside me," he continued, "one part, a dark and evil place in my soul, revels in the death and destruction. The things you want me to do, they sing to me, to that part of me, and the rush I fell when I do them is addictive. The world seems to melt away, and I need that. All my problems disappear, and I feel like I have a purpose.  
  
"The other part of me, it's repulsed so totally and utterly by what I'm doing. Every rush of power that I feel, however brief, it is always replaced by such a powerful regret. My life is destroyed. When I'm not out 'being evil', my mind is filled with the images of what I did. I'm haunted by it. The screams of those girls alone drive me more insane with every moment."  
  
Loki stopped talking and turned away from Beryl. He covered his face with his hands. His shoulders began to shake uncontrollably, and he let out several small gasps.  
  
Beryl stood up from the couch and slowly moved towards Loki. The wicked grin on her face changed dramatically to that of sorrow and sadness as she reached him and took him in her arms. She tried to comfort him, but he pushed her away, saying to her, "Just leave me alone!"  
  
She reached up and took his face in her hands, lifting it so he could look into her eyes. She smiled gently and told him, "Loki, you are my son. I need for you to take care of the things I left undone. You say you love me, and if you do, you will do these things for me because of that love. You know what I ask is not unreasonable, and I know that you can feel it, deep in your heart. You know I'm right, and I always have been."  
  
"I brought you into this world, " she continued, "and despite the fact that I wasn't here for you for so many years, what matters is that I'm here now."  
  
Loki opened his mouth to speak, but she placed a finger over his lips so she could continue. "No," she said, "I know what you're thinking. You need to know that it doesn't matter how it is that I'm here. Like I said, what really matters that I am here now. I know you think I'm wrong for not being there for you before, and I am truly sorry for it. But what you have to realize is that you're stronger than you ever imagined yourself to be. Even as a child, I know that you needed no one to survive. I'm here now to guide you to your destiny."  
  
"Now," she said as she gently pushed against Loki's chest as she stared into his eyes, "I think you should go to Earth. The sailor scouts are fighting that last monster you created, and I think it's about time you confronted them."  
  
Loki gazed into his mother's eyes for a long moment. She smiled wistfully at him, and she slowly let her hand slide down his chest and to her side. Slowly, he reached up and reached for her face. His hand grew nearer, but he hesitated, his hand hovering close to her cheek. Loki smiled for a moment, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. He allowed his hand to fall to his side, and he turned away from her. He walked into the darkness, and glanced back for a moment before he disappeared.  
  
Beryl stared intently at the spot where Loki had disappeared. She remained unmoving for a brief moment, but suddenly, she began to fade away. Her image flickered and disappeared. The room remained silent, and everything remained still, except for a mysterious black figure that shifted in the darkness and disappeared.  
  
"So, how's your week been?"  
  
Sailor Jupiter flew through the air as she tried desperately to evade the jagged pieces of glass from the now destroyed storefront window that were flying towards her. She looked down, towards the storefront, to see a particularly large and pointed piece which, by her quick calculation, would very neatly take off her head, or at least cut her in two at some other point in her body.  
  
Quickly, she pointed her hand to the ground; sparks flew off the small antenna protruding from her tiara, which had begun to glow brightly. Sparks continued to fly from the antenna as sparks danced around Jupiter's fingertips for a moment before a bolt of lightening shot out from her fingertips towards the ground. The lightening struck the ground below her, causing pieces of asphalt to fly in every direction, and an especially large piece was sent straight on a collision course with the jagged piece of glass.  
  
The force of the rushing air blew Jupiter higher into the air and further away from the storefront. Jupiter smiled to herself and rejoiced silently as she heard the anxiously awaited sound of shattering glass.  
  
She quickly brought her hands up to her face hoping to keep the hail of glittering glass, as well as the dirt that now filled the air, out of her eyes. As she drew nearer to the ground she reached her hand out below her, hoping to feel the ground for a moment before she hit it, since she couldn't see through all the dirt. As soon as she felt the ground with her hand, she extended her legs towards the pavement, bending her knee as she landed to lessen the force to her legs.  
  
Jupiter repressed a cry of pain as the force of her landing shook her entire body. She opened her eyes and looked up, despite the pain, ready to evade any more flying debris that happened to be flung her way. It was easy enough to dodge something thrown at her if she had a few feet of warning in front of her, but with the dust hovering in the air, visibility was close to nothing. She only wished that now there was some way for here to blow the dirt out of the air, or at least out of the way of her assailant. Of course, with her luck, this new monster probably had some sort of x-ray- super-micro-vision, or something.  
  
She took a deep breath as the dirt in front of her was pushed her way by a sudden gust of wind. 'Better safe than sorry,' she thought to herself as she pushed herself off the ground, leaping several feet back, away from the dust cloud and away from her attacker.  
  
She somersaulted in mid-air, landing on her feet in a standing position. She leapt back once again as the wind blew the dust towards her. She was standing in the middle of the street now. Fortunately, there was no traffic due to the overturned cars. Jupiter sighed to herself as she quickly surveyed the damage done.  
  
"I'm sure these things are doing more damage every single time they attack. How much will this cost to fix?"  
  
Jupiter turned her head towards the store once again, yet something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She focused in on one of the cars that were now burning brightly. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open slightly in shock. "My car." she whispered in unbridled horror. "OH MY GOD MY CAR!!!!" she screamed as she ran towards the burning pyre that was once her car. "oh, oh, oh.oh no.nononononno!" she said as her words fell into a low droning as she stared at the car. She had her hands on the top of her head, ignoring the pain as she tugged at her hair wildly.  
  
She ran towards the back of the car, letting her hands drop to the side, only to bring them up to cover her face, yet she peered through her fingers with horrified eyes. She sighed loudly, and tears began to form in her eyes. She ran towards the front, but stopped halfway there and sidestepped slightly towards the back.  
  
She turned back towards the store. The dust had finally settled slightly, and she could see the monster was standing on the sidewalk. She was a young girl, tall and very pretty. She wearing normal clothes, a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with the words "Bite Me" on the chest, but her skin as dark blue, and her hair was a shimmering white. She stood there, staring at Jupiter quietly, her arms folded across her chest with her hands laying on her upper arms. She was smiling.  
  
Jupiter turned bright red and walked towards the monster. "I can't believe you did that to my car!" Jupiter screamed as she drew closer to the girl. "I just made the last payment on it last week."  
  
Jupiter stopped advancing on the girl and stared at her, quite possibly attempting to kill the girl with her gaze. The girl unfolded her arms and raised them, tilting her head in a shrug, as her smile grew wider. Jupiter boiled silently with rage at the audacity of the girl. She was about to move towards her as thoughts of murder flashed through her brain, when she noticed something across the street.  
  
Jupiter glanced across the street. She quickly turned her head back towards the girl and smiled. She crossed her arms suddenly and she seemed to completely relax. The girl dropped her hands to her sides, the smirk disappearing from her face. Jupiter smiled at the girl for a moment before she lifted her index finger and pointed towards the other side of the street. The girl's face was filled with confusion as she turned her head towards the direction Jupiter was pointing.  
  
Just as the girl turned her head, a beam of light struck her in face, sending her flying through the air. She crashed into metal lamppost which bent around her, the top coming down towards the ground, encasing the girl, her arms sticking out from the sides.  
  
Jupiter continued to smile as she turned towards Sailor Venus, who was now leaning against a mailbox that had somehow remained unscathed. Venus smiled and waived at Jupiter as she started towards her. "I forgot you were there!" Jupiter said as Venus drew closer.  
  
"Well," Venus said as she drew closer to Jupiter, "I'm pretty sure 'smurfette' over there forgot, too. So, how was your week?"  
  
Jupiter stared blankly at Venus for a moment before it clicked. "Oh," she said suddenly, "I forgot you asked me. I was kinda busy at the moment."  
  
Venus smiled as she glanced behind Jupiter at the still figure of the girl wedged between to ends of the lamppost. She looked back to Jupiter. "Well?"  
  
Jupiter turned back towards her flaming car. "Well," she said sarcastically, "let's just say this is the perfect ending to the week now officially from hell. I mean, here we've been fighting these things, like, every hour for a solid week, ever since the incident with Serena whom, by the way, is totally experiencing a hormonal imbalance, but you probably already know because we've all been taking turns staying with her to make sure she's alright. Beyond that, the only ray of light is that my restaurant is almost ready to open, and Raye finally discovered a way to change those girls back to normal after they've been transformed."  
  
Jupiter sighed and shifted her glance towards the still figure of the monster/girl who was still unconscious, lying in-between the bent lamppost. The girl shifted slightly as she raised her arm, slowly clawing at the metal crushing her body. Jupiter looked away as the girls hand once again dropped to her side, completely limp.  
  
"It just seems like you're taking all of this so much easier than the rest of us," Venus said as she looked around at the destruction caused by the battle. She looked back towards Jupiter, who had folded her arms across her chest and moved away from Venus.  
  
Venus moved towards Jupiter and laid her hand on Jupiter's shoulder. Jupiter looked down at Venus and smiled weakly.  
  
"I don't know what it is exactly that's bothering me so much," Jupiter said as she took Venus' hand in her own. "I.God, how can I explain this?"  
  
Jupiter let go of Venus; hand and moved away from her. She sat down on the curb, bringing her knees up towards her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "I don't want to do this anymore, Venus. I'm so tired of it all, I just want it to stop."  
  
Venus was stunned. She looked around at the mess of the streets, seeing the devastation, the destruction, and for a moment felt exactly what Jupiter was feeling. It wasn't the first time this thought had crossed her mind. After years of battles with demon-like opponents, she couldn't say she hadn't felt the urge to throw down her power stick and stomp on it, give the world the finger, and walk away.  
  
But, no matter what Venus thought of the entire situation, she know one fact: if she were ever to do that, it would be humanity as a whole that would pay the price. Each and every single human being on the planet would lose either their freedom or their lives if she failed to do everything she could to protect them.  
  
She knew that all of the scouts had these thoughts before, and not just because for the longest time it was all Serena complained about, day and night. The only problem was, none of them had ever gotten bold enough to do anything about it, especially not sitting down on the street in the middle of a battle.  
  
Venus turned to the blue mass underneath the broken lamppost. The girl's arm was twitching, it's hand reaching up again, clawing at the metal beam that was crushing it's body. She watched as this monster struggled with its cage, and looked to Jupiter, seeing her struggle with the cage that all their lives had become.  
  
The rain was beating down on the road. It poured from above harder and harder; it bounced off the sidewalk with the force of it's falling. Lightning ripped through the sky, illuminating the dark streets for a brief moment before they returned to darkness.  
  
Loki walked slowly down the street. His black trench coat was completely soaked, and his shoes were constantly submerged in puddles on the sidewalk. His hair was soaking wet and hanging down in front of his eyes; water was dripping down his face, streaking like tears. His face was a reflection of pure sorrow. He wrapped his arms around his chest and continued walking, having no real destination.  
  
He had the sudden urge to utterly destroy himself. Death seemed all too simple, though. He only wished he could, but suicide never did seem like an option to him. He never considered it, because he knew he was too much of a coward to try it. He feared death, but most of the time even though he did, it seemed a sweet release that was always out of his reach. He feared suddenly that he would never know a release from the pain of it all.  
  
The pain surged, and became momentarily unbearable. It washed over him like the rain falling from the sky. It made him want to throw up, it made him want to die, it made him want to break open his head; it was that powerful. He was utterly and totally uncomfortable in his own body. He reached up and ran his hands through his hair. He pushed down on his head, as if he could somehow reach in and pluck out all of the pain, all of the thoughts that consumed his mind, allowing him no rest.

But there was no release. He grabbed his hair, pulling it slightly, the physical pain allowing him a brief, but greatly welcomed the vague release from his emotions.  
  
He wondered suddenly if this was his damnation. He needn't wait for death, because this is what God had planned for him. Fenris had taken him to church for all those years. Church! The thought suddenly made him laugh, but his laugh was hollow, and it did nothing to alleviate his guilt. Was it guilt? Was it regret? He didn't know. He didn't analyze it; he didn't want to. Delving further into the problem had always made him worse.  
  
How could it be worse, though, he wondered to himself? If I were tied down, unable to even attempt to run away from it? If the ghosts of my past literally haunted me? Yes, that was it exactly; his memories were haunting him. He saw the ghosts all around him, suddenly. They enacted out the memories he was reliving. He found himself answering them. Had anybody been near him, they would think him insane. Maybe he was, but that would be an excuse, one that he did not deserve. He shook his head and covered his ears, hoping in vain to finally shut them out. Pain surged through his head, and he muttered to himself,  
  
He wanted to scream. He needed to scream and scream until his lungs burst. He couldn't scream enough. His life was empty, his soul was empty. God had abandoned him. He knew He was real, too. He knew it because he could hear him laughing at him. Loki knew God existed because with every assumption he made, even about the existence of God, he could hear somebody laughing at him. Could it be he is insane? No, he had already proved that to be otherwise. Was it possible that it was all just his overactive imagination? Possible, but unlikely.  
  
Could it be the Devil instead of God? What a perfect answer to a question Loki never wanted to ask himself; the Devil was in his head, laughing, prodding, pushing him to things he didn't think he was capable of. No, he knew that couldn't be right. He didn't believe in the Devil. He didn't believe that God could allow such an evil to exist.  
  
But...Loki exists, doesn't he? He exists as an evil that plagues the world; an evil that wants to destroy it. No, he doesn't want to destroy the world, does he? He wanted to prove a point, he wanted to take revenge on those who hurt him, he wanted to make them pay for the pain he felt by making them feel pain a thousand times worse...but did he have to destroy to planet?  
  
No, this is all Beryl's fault. Loki used to be happy, at least until she showed up. Damn her! He hated her so much, but she's his mother; she gave him life, and he owed it to her to avenge her death. He owed her his existence. But if his existence was so unbearable, isn't she to blame?  
  
Loki looked up at the sky and laughed. 'Oh, the drama' he thought to himself. 'These thoughts are all ridiculous. They get me nowhere; I should just stop wasting my time.'  
  
Sometimes, Loki knew he was overreacting to the situations he analyzed. He suffered from an acute case of Freudism, in that he overanalyzed everything. It made him laugh.  
  
Presumptuous, naïve, gullible, greedy, needy, cocky. Loki was all of these, yet, once again, he knew he was overreacting.  
  
Life was still unbearable. To have so many presumptions about oneself couldn't possibly be healthy, yet he doubted them all, so did that mean he didn't really have any presumptions, or just that he also suffered from low self-esteem?  
  
None of this really mattered. Loki thought all these things because he needed to. The last part of himself that was human was violently opposed to his actions, and apparently it was his conscience. He pressed his hands against his eyes in an attempt to blind his thoughts with a flash of pain. Perhaps he believed he could simply reach into his skull and pluck out the pain. But he knew that was impossible; or so he hoped. For if that had been at all possible, he would be all the more upset that he hadn't done it sooner. However, if it caused him pain, he could just pluck it out, couldn't he?  
  
Despite all that, he knew if he could simply begin his plans, all of these fears would dissolve. Whenever he was deeply involved in something, he lost all ability to think of anything but the task at hand. At times, it seemed to be a rather detrimental attribute of his personality, but it served him well. Perhaps this is why Beryl had told him to finally encounter the scouts face-to-face. If he were to do that, his pain would disappear. Or at least it would be dulled.  
  
Once again, his conscience betrayed him. It talked to him silently, yet it resonated through his being. He knew that this dulling, this escape was nothing but a delusion. If he were to destroy the planet, there would be no one left to fight, no means of escape, and he would once again be tortured by his thoughts, only it would be a million times worse. At least now, there was a chance for salvation.  
  
Loki looked up from the ground, realizing that he had entered a park. The rain had stopped, and the clouds had dispersed, allowing the moon to a shine down upon him. He had to admit to himself that there didn't seem to be anything more majestic, more mysterious, more romantic than the full moon.  
  
Before all this had happened, when Loki was "normal", he had looked at the moon in utter awe. It had always been so much of a mystery to him. He knew the moon had something to do with his life, he knew it had some special significance, but he couldn't figure out why.  
  
What intrigued him the most was how the light from the moon seemed to make everything glow with an iridescent light. It almost seemed to bring everything to life. It added it's mystery to everything it touched, and it shared its mystery with everything. It was as if everything came to understand its mystery, yet it kept it hidden in its soft glow.  
  
Well, it occurred to him now that his life had played out his mothers. He had been good, innocent, and then the darkness had taken over. No longer did the moon seem mysterious to him. Now, it was a great source of anguish and hatred towards what had been done to his mother. The moon's light no longer held any wonder. It was the darkness that he belonged to now. And he knew that if he gave himself up to it completely, he would lose all regret, and he would gain the strength he needed to do what had to be done.  
  
Loki looked up to see a swing set standing in the middle of the park. He moved towards it, totally entranced by the sight of it. He was flooded with memories of his past...of his innocence.  
  
He gently touched the chain attached to the seat hovering above the ground. Loki was filled, suddenly, with happy memories of days past. He remembered the fun he used to have...he remembered the person he used to be. He smiled and grabbed hold of the chain, holding the seat steady as he turned around and sat down.  
  
He grinned wildly as he felt the squish of water beneath him. He remembered how he used to hate it when he sat on the seat when it was wet, because his pants would be soaked and they would take forever to dry. He always checked to make sure there was no water on the seat, but even if there was, he would find some way to get it off just so he could use the swing.  
  
Loki pushed himself off the ground and started to swing his legs. In...out, in...out. He loved the feeling in his chest when he came flying down. It was a mix of fear and excitement that made his chest tighten and took the breath out of him. It was so exhilarating.  
  
But the joy and excitement quickly left Loki. Once again, it had burnt up inside of him, leaving him dark and empty. He flew off the swing, landing several feet away from the set. He had always feared flying off like that, knowing he might seriously hurt himself. But none of those worries were left in him.  
  
Loki stood there in the falling rain, remembering the sudden pains of his lost humanity. He recalled a time when he had wished he would lose it all. His mind was a constant torment to him; the conflict he felt between his good and dark sides had always caused him grief he had never know, and didn't imagine could ever be surpassed. At least he was wrong about something.  
  
For a while before he gave in, he actually thought he could fight it. He thought, maybe it was a test of his strength. He realized that he thought perhaps God had been testing him. Loki laughed suddenly. There was no God. If anything, he was God.  
  
Loki felt a stab of pain, an assault of what was left of his humanity striking his foolish pride as the thought of him being God filled his mind. He felt infinitely sorry for all life on Earth, having a God such as him. Pain upon pain; that was all he felt anymore.  
  
Loki shook his head and began to walk once again. He looked down at his feet as he walked, a trait he had learned as a teenager: Don't look up, or you'll see the others looking at you. He had developed a kind of game while he was looking down, to keep his mind off the people staring at him. He remembered the song children used to sing while they played on a sidewalk. Don't step on a crack, or you'll break your mother's back.  
  
Loki knew the saying was foolishness. Yet from the first time he heard the song, whenever he was conscious of where he was walking he would attempt to avoid the cracks. Now, every time he saw cracks in the sidewalk, he thought of the song, and immediately began to walk around them. Most people would never understand why he did it. Loki didn't think he understood it himself. When he began to play the game while avoiding the gaze of others, he had no idea that over time it would develop into an almost obsessive need.  
  
Now, when he walked anywhere, he had to avoid cracks in the floor. Even inside buildings, he would avoid the edges of tiles, keeping his feet inside each, taking long strides between each tile.  
  
Loki was looking down, but he could see no cracks to avoid due to the water building up. He had hoped he could see something; hopefully he would be able to take his mind off of everything, if only he could slip into his obsessive-compulsive behavior.  
  
Loki heard the sound of someone splashing around coming from behind him. He turned to see a dim figure moving towards him in the rain. As the figure grew closer, Loki saw the figure of an elderly lady. Her back was hunched, possibly trying to keep herself underneath her tattered umbrella, trying vainly to keep from getting wet. People her age knew what getting wet, getting drenched in an October rain, could mean.  
  
Her face was withered, the wrinkles hiding a face that had probably once been very beautiful. She clutched a small purse tightly to her chest, her hands trembling out of the cold, perhaps. Or was it some sort of disease causing her hands to tremble uncontrollably. Loki had always felt a pang of utter sorrow when he beheld such people. He wanted nothing more then to embrace then tightly and take them away from all their pain and suffering. Loki had stopped moving and now stared quietly at the elderly lady.  
  
Her pace quickened as she looked up and noticed Loki staring at her. She sped past him, splashing loudly in the rain, leaving herself open to the elements for a few moments as her attention shifted to putting as much distance between herself and Loki as quickly as possible.  
  
She ducked into the nearest open door, a small all-night convenience store. The bell on the door jingled loudly, and the old lady paused for a moment to look back at Loki before entering.  
  
Loki turned away from the store and resumed walking, now saddened at the misfortune of the people of the world of having such great sorrow.  
  
Loki heard a loud bang from behind him, and then a muffled human scream. He turned towards the convenience store and heard another loud bang, followed by a now familiar woman's screams. Loki moved towards the store, slowly at first, but picking up his pace as the smile on his face grew wider.  
  
He came to the door and peered inside through the glass. There were three men, all dressed in black, all holding ridiculously oversized guns for robbing a convenience store.  
  
Besides the three robbers, there were three other people in the store. The elderly woman, who was now being grasped tightly around the neck by one of the three men and had a gun in her neck; a young woman, probably around thirty years old, being held on the ground by another of the men, and a young teenage boy with bad acne standing behind the register.  
  
The young boy was fighting tears as he emptied the contents of the register into a plastic bag. He put the last of the money into the bag and held it out towards one of the robbers. The man pointed to the cigarettes on the wall, and made another gesture at the lottery tickets concealed in a glass case on the counter.  
  
Loki pushed on the door and entered the building, the bells ringing loudly, echoing throughout the store. Every person in the store looked up towards Loki. He could tell the three men were completely stunned, even through their masks, and, for a moment, the three hostages wore looks of complete and utter relief. Then they realized the robbers had just been handed another victim, another hostage.  
  
Oh how wrong they are, Loki thought to himself.  
  
"Gentlemen," Loki said as he drew closer to the man standing in front of the register, "I hope you understand that smoking can be dangerous to your health."  
  
Loki stopped a few feet in front of the man at the register. He folded his arms and stared at the man, waiting for a response. The man lifted his gun and pointed it straight in Loki's face.  
  
"Who the hell do you think you are?" the man asked Loki, his voice steady.  
  
"Just a concerned citizen" Loki responded with a smile. Loki looked up at the boy at the register, who looked as if he were about pass out from fear.  
  
"Everything is going to be okay," Loki said to the boy. He seemed to relax a little, until the man in black turned his head around and glared at him.  
  
"Keep going," he said to the boy. He looked at each of the other two men, nodding reassuringly to each.  
  
The man turned back to Loki and flicked his gun at him. "You," he said, moving just slightly closer, "why don't you shut your big mouth and get on the goddamn floor?"  
  
Loki smiled, and remained standing.  
  
"What are you deaf!" the man screamed at Loki as he reached out to grab him. The man stumbled forward, stunned at the fact that the gutsy young punk had completely disappeared.  
  
"I'm over here."  
  
The man turned around to see Loki standing over the young girl, behind the man holding her down. The man leapt to his feet, swinging the butt of the gun towards Loki's head. Loki ducked the gun and grabbed the man by the neck, lifting him into the air.  
  
Both men aimed their guns at Loki. The one with the elderly lady still had her by the neck. He didn't say anything, and Loki could see him trembling. The man at the register had both hands on his gun, yet he was remaining calm.  
  
"Put...him...down" the man said calmly, but loudly.  
  
Loki looked up at the man he was holding in his hand. "Time to die now" he said quietly.  
  
The man's face became a mask of pure terror as Loki's hand closed tighter around the man's neck, and a sickening crack filled the air. The man's body went limp in Loki's grip, and the two other men screamed in fury.  
  
Both men began to fire at Loki at once. Loki swung the body to face the man with the elderly lady, while he held up his hand towards the man at the register. The body in Loki's hand shuddered from the force of the bullets hitting it, while the air in front of his other hand shimmered for a moment before the bullets came to a stop, hovering in midair for a moment before falling to the ground.  
  
Both men continued firing until they had no bullets left, which wasn't long. Loki assumed that the men hadn't thought to bring more than a few bullets to an "easy score".  
  
Loki allowed the body to fall to the floor, and he folded his arms. The girl beneath his feet screamed and pushed herself up against the wall, her sobs shaking her entire body. Loki looked at each of the men, the look of terror and amazement apparent through their masks. Loki looked down at the bullets lying on the floor, and then back up at the man at the register.  
  
"I know the whole "Matrix" thing is a cliché now, but it seems to be just as, if not more, cool when I do it in real life."  
  
The man holding the elderly lady threw her to the ground in a panic and ran towards the door. Loki held out his hand towards him and the man stopped in his tracks. He rose into the air, lifted by some invisible force. His arms were held straight out from his sides, his feet were together, and his head was tilted to one side as he floated several feet above the ground.  
  
The man at the register had fallen to the ground and simply stared up at the man being held in the air. The man floating in the air began shaking wildly, blood from his nose spilling down his face.  
  
Loki looked up at the man in the air and moved slowly towards him. "You know," he said to the man, who was now sobbing loudly, "if you think about it, the crucifix is a device. Sure, people around the world worship it, and would argue it is a living symbol of love, but it is still just a device. The Romans used it to execute people. It would be no different for people to worship a noose, or an electric chair."  
  
Loki stopped in front of the man. He rose into the air, coming to eye level with the near-hysteric man and leaned towards him. The man ceased crying as his eyes grew wide. "Do you see the irony in that?" his whispered to the man.  
  
"Do you see the proof that God does have a sense of humor? I mean, could you imagine kneeling down once a week in front of an electric chair and praying for your eternal soul? Could you see tiny replicas of this electric chair filling the homes of millions?"  
  
The man shook his head up and down before Loki laughed out loud and moved away from him. The man fell to the floor. "Seeing that God has a sense of humor, I believe I should have one too, don't you agree?" The man rose to his feet and stared at Loki.  
  
"Well," Loki said "don't you?"  
  
"Y...Yes" the man stuttered as he nodded in agreement.  
  
"Alright then," Loki said as he clapped his hands together, "I think it would be funny...if I let you go. Don't you think that would be funny?"  
  
The man's eyes lit up, and he nodded his head enthusiastically in agreement. "Yes, I think that would be hilarious" he said to Loki.  
  
Loki laughed again, and turned away from the man. He lifted his hand and waved him away, like a dismissal. "Ok," he said, still chuckling to himself, "you're free to go."  
  
Loki turned towards the man at the register, who had now grabbed the elderly lady and was holding the gun to her head. Loki moved towards the two as the sound of a bell rang loudly through the air. Loki laughed as he descended slowly to the floor.  
  
"I do believe that's where I came in! Oh, I love coming full circle." Loki said as he stood in front of the quivering robber.  
  
The robber's hand twitched as he tightened his grip on the elderly lady. He had the gun pointed at her head, then he swung it to point at Loki, only to bring it to her head again.  
  
"Go ahead, shoot her!" Loki said to the man.  
  
"Shut up, just SHUT UP!" the man screamed back as his fear took over. He was looking back and forth wildly. His gaze fixed on the woman huddling against the wall, and she squealed with fear when she realized he was moving towards her.  
  
"Oh, good idea" Loki said, "get two people. So, now you can threaten to shoot somebody but still have one left over in case you actually have to go through with it."  
  
Loki moved closer to the man, who had now dragged the girl to her feet, standing her next to the elderly lady, whom he positioned between the man and Loki. The man shifted the gun from woman to woman; hoping neither of them would try and escape. He wrapped his arm around the elderly lady's head, the gun in that hand pointed at her head, while his other hand had grabbed the other woman's hair.  
  
"OK, I'm sick this," he said as he turned his gaze to the elderly lady. "Please, tell me your name?"  
  
The elderly lady, who had remained surprisingly calm during the whole ordeal, spoke loudly with a steady voice, "My name is Blanche."  
  
Loki smiled at her, and turned his gaze to the woman whose hair was being yanked violently. "What about you?"  
  
The woman looked through the hair hanging in front of her eyes, which was sticking to the tears running down her face. "Rose" she managed to let out in a sob.  
  
"Rose," Loki said with a smile on his face, "that's a very pretty name Rose."  
  
"M...my name's Billy."  
  
Loki turned his head and looked at the young boy at the register, who had just spoken out. "That's great, Billy" Loki said, annoyance in his voice betraying the patience he seemed to be exuding.  
  
"My name is Loki, and I'm pleased to meet all of you."  
  
"And my name is friggin' Trigger McGee" the man with the gun said as Loki turned around to face him once again. "I swear to God, if you keep going with this self-indulgent CRAP, I'll blow the hag's brains out."  
  
Loki glared at the man for several moments, remaining completely motionless. The man seemed to lose more of his patience as he wrenched at Rose's hair and drove the gun harder against Blanche's head. "Get out of my way!" the man screamed at Loki.  
  
Loki gracefully stepped aside, pointed his arms towards the door and bowed his head slightly. The man's face lit up for a moment, believing he was going to escape. He began to move towards the door, when Loki dropped his arms and resumed his position between the man and the door.  
  
"Y'know," Loki said, "I just don't think I'm going to let you get away too. I think allowing one person to escape is my quota for the day, don't you agree?"  
  
"I'll shoot this old hag, I swear to God I will."  
  
"You keep invoking that deity, but he keeps not appearing." Loki responded. "Should I be expecting him soon, or are you just screaming his name for no good reason?"  
  
"Who the hell are you?" the man screamed at Loki.  
  
"I am the terror that flaps in the night." Loki said with a grin.  
  
"That's it!" the man said as he pushed at Blanches' head with his gun. "If you don't let me out of here, I'm going to blast her head off, and I mean it."  
  
Loki stepped closer to the man. "Oh, I have no doubt in my mind that you are completely willing to kill this poor woman. In fact, go ahead. I don't care about her. Come on, be a man and do it!"  
  
The man bellowed in rage and pulled the trigger to the gun. The gun clicked loudly, but nothing else happened.  
  
Loki lifted his had to his mouth and stifled a laugh. The man's face was full of shock. "Oops," Loki said, "I guess you forgot to change the clip after you unloaded your gun at me."  
  
Loki dropped his hands to his sides and the grin disappeared from his face. "So what's it gonna be, huh punk?" he said in a raspy voice before bursting into a smile.  
  
The man pushed Blanche at Loki, hoping to throw him off balance long enough to get away. Loki sidestepped the woman stumbling towards him, watching as she ran into a display, catching herself and remaining unharmed.  
  
The man was at the door when Loki appeared behind him and pushed him into the street. He fell to his face, skidding on the water in the street. Loki stepped outside, lifting his hands into the air. The man was trying to get up when he found himself rising into the air at the exact rate as Loki's hands.  
  
"Let me down!" the man screamed as he flew higher and higher into the air, ast the rooftops of even the tallest buildings, continuing up until he rose above the clouds, where he hovered, swaying wildly in the wind.  
  
The moon was full and was shining brightly, illuminating the clouds below him. He looked down at the clouds, the fear in his mind practically blinding him, his breath caught in his throat.  
  
The clouds seemed to shift for a moment before a figure burst through them and was headed straight at him. The figure was dim, but the man knew who it was.  
  
Loki stopped in front of the man and peered into his eyes. The man was entranced, but the panic in him rose as the wind picked up once again rocked him back and forth.  
  
Loki reached out and steadied the man with his hands. The man burst into tears, sobbing loudly, although he couldn't even hear himself because of the wind. Through his tears, he saw Loki was trying to say something. The wind was still blowing in his ears, and he couldn't see what Loki was trying to say, so he just remained silent.  
  
As quickly as the wind had picked up, it died down again. The man looked around in wonder, and then back at Loki, who had begun to talk.  
  
"So," he said in a completely calm manner, "what does it feel like to know that you're going to die?"  
  
The man resumed his sobbing, trying desperately to beg for his life, but only able to repeat the word "no" over and over.  
  
"Oh come on now," Loki said as he slapped the man roughly across the face. Fresh tears were stinging the man's face where Loki had slapped him, which was now throbbing painfully. "I don't feel like deciphering any of that," Loki said.  
  
The man remained quiet for a moment, afraid to say anything. But after Loki remained quiet, the man began to babble once again. "I was just trying to provide for my family I had lost my job at the plant and they threatened to foreclose on my house and my wife left me and took my son and I crashed my car and."  
  
Loki reached out and placed his hand over the man's mouth. "Ok, ok, I've heard enough" Loki said in exasperation. He glared at the man, and lifted him above his head.  
  
"I'm not interested in any of that" Loki said to the man, who had remained quiet. "I just want to ask you a question. Is that okay, Mr. McGee?"  
  
The man was frozen in fear. He didn't want to anger Loki any more, hoping that his life might be spared, so he shook his head and shouted Yes.  
  
Loki smiled. "Good" he said as he lowered the man so he could look into his eyes.

"Alright," Loki said to the man, "here's my question. Was robbing a convenience store the only solution? Hmm? Was it the best one? What else could you have possibly done to solve all your problems?"

The man stared blankly at Loki. He saw that Loki began to become impatient, so he began to babble once again.  
  
"No, no, no. I don't want an essay here. I want a one word answer. I want you to dig deep, and tell me the answer that I want to hear, the one you know is true in your heart."  
  
Once again, the man stared into Loki's eyes. The man said nothing, but he began to cry. Loki cocked his head to one side. "What's the answer?" he whispered softly.  
  
"Die," the man said as tears flowed down his face, "to die."  
  
"Exactly" Loki said as he released the man from his grip.  
  
The man started screaming as he disappeared beneath the clouds. Loki looked down at the clouds, the hole the man had made disappearing rapidly. Loki closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. He felt a sudden rush of wind before opening his eyes and looking around.  
  
Loki found himself once again standing inside the store. He reached down and lifted Rose to her feet. Her make-up smudged her entire face, and her hair was meshed in a large clump. She began to shake as he laid her against the wall and turned away, making his way to the door.  
  
"Wait!" Loki heard a voice from behind. He turned to see Blanche, the elderly lady, running towards him. She moved closer, stopping just in front of Loki.  
  
"I just wanted to thank you for saving us" she said in a small, un- quavering voice.  
  
Loki stared at the woman for a moment. She was smiling at him, and she reached down to take his hand. Loki considered allowing the woman to take his hand, but decided against it. He turned away from her and walked out the door and into the rain.  
  
As he began to walk down the street, he heard the door of the shop behind him open and slam shut. He felt a tug on his jacket, and he stopped in his tracks. "Please," he heard Blanche say in her small yet steady voice.  
  
Loki twisted around and grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her in the air and pushed her up against the wall of the building next to them. The rain fell silently around them. Blanche was grasping at Loki's hand with her quivering hands.  
  
"Listen to me, and listen good, because I am only going to say this once" Loki said in a quiet fury. "The only reason I did anything in there was because of my extreme distaste for guns. I meant what I said in there. You mean nothing to me, nothing at all. I could kill you just as easily as I killed those other two, and I'm sure I could be even more creative. So why don't you just count your blessing and leave me alone, alright?"

Loki released the woman and walked away as she crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.  
  
"Where are you going now," Blanche asked with a raspy voice.  
  
Loki paused for a moment, a smile filling his face. "Let's just say I believe it would be a bitter irony for a man to escape death only to die in an apparent 'accident'."  
  
Loki left the woman behind, walking slowly, scanning the city with his mind for the man he had let escape. Loki now had the courage to do what needed to be done. That incident had burned up the last bit of him that objected to the whole ordeal. It had burnt away the last part of him that was human.  
  
Loki found the man he was looking for. He grinned wickedly and disappeared in a flash of crimson light, not realizing that Blanche had risen to her feet and was staring at Loki, her eyes burning with the same crimson light.

She laughed, and her figure melted into the shadows.


	7. Promises

Chapter Six - Promises 

-_It will all get better someday...won't it?_

The scent of a hundred candles filled the air, bringing the warm glow of light to life as it cast its shadow across the room. The scent of dozens of roses mixed with the scent of wax and made the air thick. It seemed to make the glow of the candles brighter.

Darien laid Serena down on the bed, brushing aside the petals that lay around her. He ran his hand lightly down her cheek as she gazed steadily into his eyes. She reached up, taking his face in her hands and pulled him close to her own face and closed her eyes as their lips locked together in a passionate kiss.

Darien massaged Serena's back with one hand as he held her face with the other. He tenderly played with her hair as he slowly began to kiss her neck. He kissed her tenderly, breathing lightly on her neck as he did and smiling as he saw and felt the hairs on her body stood on end.

Serena kissed his fingers as he caressed her face. He gently nibbling on her ear, and she ran one hand down his back, sending chills up his spine as she touched the spot on his back that made his whole body go numb. Darien's passion flamed as he heard Serena sigh wistfully. She pulled his shirt over his head and threw it to the floor as she pushed Darien roughly down on the bed, positioning herself over him, her legs on either side of his body.

Serena gazed into his eyes for a moment, and reached out to touch him. Her hand moved through the air slowly. In the dim candlelight, she fingers seemed to make ripples in the air that resonated throughout the room, causing everything to shimmer slightly. She ran her fingers gently down the side of his face and along his chin, and Darien's entire body began to resonate with the rest of the room.

Serena bit down on her lower lip as her head tilted to one side. Darien wanted to scream suddenly out of passion. Darien was normally nothing but annoyed when people teased him, but when Serena was being so sensual, he wanted it to last forever, and she knew he loved it. She ran one hand up her body towards her face and brushed her hair away from her face.

She laid her fingertips on his mouth as she leaned in and kissed him. Darien could feel her hands running along his naked chest as he massaged her back with increasing fervor. She ran her tongue across his neck as her head moved down towards his chest. She kissed him lightly and nibbled his neck gently as she ran her hand through his hair and down his side towards his leg, grasping his thigh tightly.

Darien's closed his eyes, his entire body quivering from the overwhelming sensations of his wife's warm body caressing his own. He sighed, wistfully saying her name with an escaping breath. He grew more excited as he felt Serena running her hair over his face, over his chest. He moaned in pleasure, and opened his eyes as her red hair ran across his face.

Darien's eyes grew wide as he realized the woman on top of him was not his wife. He pushed the unknown woman away from him with a gasp and leaped out of the bed. He hit into the wall behind him roughly, his breath now coming in hurried gasps. He stared at the figure lying at the foot of the bed, her long red hair flowing down her body and resting on the mattress.

"Who are you?" Darien screamed at the woman, as he ran his hands down the wall, looking for anything to grab a hold of. The woman on the bed reached her hands to her face. Her body began to shake violently, and Darien could her sobs. A part of him wanted to reach out and comfort her, but for the most part, his mind was screaming at him to escape. He felt the cry at a primal level; every part of his body told him that something was terribly wrong, and something very bad was going to happen.

The woman lying on the bed stopped shaking, and her sobs slowly turned into a loud menacing laughter. Darien could see her eyes glowing red as she rose up, brushing the hair away from her face.

She moved towards Darien, raising her hand as she got closer. Darien felt an invisible force lift him off the floor and push him violently against the wall. His head thudded loudly against a picture frame, knocking off the wall and sending bits of glass flying across the floor. The woman stopped moving and looked down at the glass she was now standing on. Darien could hear the glass crunching under her weight as she bent over and retrieved a large jagged piece from the floor.

The woman stood up, twirling the glass slowly in her hands and glaring at it sadistically. Darien continued to struggle, trying desperately to break free. He noticed the room around him grew darker. The features of his bedroom slowly melted away, revealing rough walls seemingly made of stone, but which seemed to shift like something alive. He noticed thick tentacles made of this living rock tied down his arms and legs. He struggled against them, but he couldn't break free.

He began to panic again, but he lost control of his body. He stopped shaking; he stopped struggling. He looked up again at the woman, who was now standing right in front of him. Through the veil of hair covering her face, he could see her smiling. Her teeth seemed to be pointed like that of a wild animal, and the look in her eyes was just as feral.

She came closer to him, reaching up and stroking his face with her hand, playing with the piece of glass in the other. Darien quietly whispered her name. "Beryl."

"Yes my love," she responded. She leaned in and kissed Darien. He wanted to struggle, to draw away from her, but he remained motionless. His mind was screaming at his body to move away, but it did not. She drew away from him and laid one hand on his chest. Darien felt a smile come across his face, yet he did not know why. He wanted to scream at her; he wanted to spit in her face, yet he smiled at her.

Beryl laughed as she raised her other hand and slashed Darien across the chest with the glass. Darien felt it cutting into his flesh. He tried to scream in pain, but only a soft moan escaped his lips. He continued to watch as beryl brought the glass across his chest again and again. The blood felt warm against Darien's chest as it flowed freely now. He could tell the wounds were only superficial, but it still hurt terribly.

Beryl leaned towards Darien once again and licked the blood from his wounds. She moved up his chest, kissing his neck until she locked her lips onto his own. He could taste his own blood, and he felt like gagging on it, but his body responded to the kiss as if he were kissing his own wife.

Beryl drew away from Darien and laughed as she licked the blood from her fingers. Darien felt tears coming to his eyes, but he didn't know why. It was all so confusing. He was disgusted, but apparently aroused at the same time. He was feeling a clash in the emotions of his mind and body. While he felt like throwing up, preferably on Beryl, he also felt like kissing her.

Beryl laughed, seeing the conflict inside Darien. "I love you, my prince," she said to him as she laughed. He screamed at her in his mind, _I hate you, you bitch. Let me go! _But the only words that came out of his mouth were, "I love you, mistress."

Beryl's eyes grew darker, and her skin began to crawl, as if thousands of ants were running around just under the skin. She raised her arms over her head as thousands of tentacles burst out from under her skin. They flew towards Darien, wrapping themselves around him and burrowing into his own skin. He screamed out loud, but he couldn't hear himself over Beryl's laughter.

Darien sat up in bed, screaming as tears flowed down his face. He could still feel the tentacles moving under his skin. He leapt out of bed and fiercely rubbed his arms as he sobbed loudly. Light suddenly filled the room, and Darien covered his eyes as he screamed in pain. He felt someone's hands lightly touch his arms, and batted them away swiftly.

Darien fell to his knees, his arms wrapped around him and tears flowing down his face. He could still feel the burning of the slashes on his chest; he could still feel the blood flowing. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could, but he could still see her scowling face.

Darien felt somebody touch his face lightly. He opened his eyes, looking up to see Serena hovering over him, wearing a look of fear and concern. She reached out and touched his face. Tears flowed down Darien's face. He wrapped his arms around Serena's waist and held her tightly.

"It's okay, Darien. It was just a dream. It's ok!" Darien felt Serena stroking his hair as she tried to console him. He felt absolutely ridiculous for being so emotional. He wiped the tears away from eyes and roughly pushed Serena away as he stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the city, trying to forget the terrible dream.

He felt Serena's hand on his shoulder. He felt tears rising again, but he choked them back. He looked over his shoulder for a moment. He reached up and placed his hand on top of Serena's and sighed, his voice quivering with his body.

"Darien," he heard Serena whisper from behind him, "what happened?"

Darien stared out the window, refusing to look turn around and look his wife in the eyes with such weakness in his own. He stared at the moon for a moment; it was only a crescent moon, and it was blood red. The memory of Beryl's face flashed in his mind. A flash of her red hair; was that blood on her teeth? Darien shut his eyes tightly, hoping to squeeze the image out of his mind.

He opened his eyes again and turned away from the window. He took Serena's hand and looked down at her, smiling weakly before dropping her hand and moving over to the bed, sitting on the corner and hunching over..

"Serena, I'm fine," Darien said to her quietly as he stared blankly at the floor. "I know that sometimes this happens to me and I am completely willing to talk it all over, but this isn't one of those times. I need to think the whole thing through. I may just be nuts, but for the moment, just let me think the whole thing through, and if I still need to talk about it, then of course I know you're there for me."

Darien didn't, couldn't, reveal the awful truth to her-that his "dream" was definitely not a dream, but a recollection. He tried to look up at her, but he couldn't. How could he tell his wife, the woman he shares his bed with, of the terrible acts of carnality that evil woman subjected him to? And they were terrible; and she certainly was evil.

Darien rose out of the bed and moved towards the window. He realized suddenly that anytime something was wrong with either him or Serena, they always moved to the window. Darien couldn't say why his initial reaction was to do this, but he guessed that it had something to do with the glow from the moon. From this height, even if the sky was overcast, the glow from the moon would always cut through.

Darien tried to recall if there had been times when the moon wasn't there to comfort him. He wondered if his and Serena's moods were affected when there was no moon. He couldn't remember any specific instances; so he couldn't really do anything but speculate, and there wasn't enough information to make any conclusions, but he started to wonder about it.

Darien kicked himself mentally. Here his wife was freaking out because of this whole thing, and he was analyzing whether or not the moon had some sort of effect on their mental states. It was typical of him to try and escape his problems by overanalyzing them.

He looked down at Serena and took her hand in his.

"Serena," he said, "everything is fine, please don't worry." He smiled at her, and she smiled back, but he could feel the questioning radiating from her like heat. It filled the air between them, and it was overbearing for a moment, but Darien stood up and brushed it off.

"I think I need to go for a walk," Darien said as he moved towards his dresser and pulled out a pair of pants. He pulled the pants on, and slipped his wallet into his back pocket, hesitating for a moment. _Is this the right thing to do?_ He thought to himself. _Maybe I should stay with Serena...maybe I should talk to her about it, so that there isn't any question about my feelings. _Darien looked back at Serena, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring up at him with those big beautiful eyes.

He wanted to sweep her up and run away with her. He wanted to run from their past and live a normal and peaceful life. He wanted that so badly...but he knew it wasn't possible. They would always be called on to protect others; he had accepted that long ago. He just hoped that his family could survive the strain.

Darien moved towards Serena and leaned over to kiss her. He placed a hand on her swollen stomach, feeling the baby turn. Darien smiled at Serena, and kissed her. He pulled away, turned and headed towards the door.

"Try not to get brainwashed by any evil aliens from an alternate dimension" Serena said to him.

"Only if you promise not to turn into a princess from the moon and try to cut me in half with a glorified frisbee" he retorted with a smile.

Serena laughed, and Darien kissed her again and left the room. As he headed down the hall, he realized that Serena knew he wanted to be alone, and he knew that she would be there when he returned, because they love each other, and that's what people who love each other do.

Serena watched Darien walk out the door. She heard the soft click of the lock on the front door, and the fading sound of Darien walking down the hallway to the elevator.

She thought of what had just happened. She was sitting next to him, but she hadn't touched him. She stared at his face, watching his eyes twitch and his mouth move, as if he were having a conversation with someone in his mind. She knew what he was like. He had some terrible dream, and he was playing it out over and over in his head, even now, responding to it over and over, trying to find someway he could have made the situation better.

This type of thing happened to him all the time, and usually over the most mundane things. Once, she and Darien were renting a movie and Darien couldn't find his membership card. The clerk spoke harshly too him about holding up the other customers, and for the rest of the night, Darien was lost in his thoughts. Usually, it only lasted a couple of hours, or until something else took his mind off whatever it is he was obsessing over. But, when the situation was bad enough, it could go on for days.

From what she had seen in Darien's eyes just now, she knew it would be a while before he snapped out of it this time.

"Darien, what happened?" she had asked. Serena knew when Darien wanted to talk about something. She also knew that even though it seemed like he didn't want to talk, he really did.

Darien shook his head, his eyes remaining unfocused. He was wringing his hands, and soon Darien would have started to clap his hands together. He had developed a very mild case of OCD, if such a thing can be "developed". It was a physical attempt to relieve whatever he was going through. It essentially snapped him back into reality.

Serena knew that if she had remained silent for long enough, besides just talking, he would have told her everything that was on his mind, even things that he didn't want to say, things he didn't want people to know...even his own wife. She never really understood it; it was as if he didn't realize the words that were coming out of his mouth. Or maybe he just forgot the reasons he wasn't mentioning it. It was an awful little secret that Serena knew, and she used it to her advantage far to often, but it helped her to help him more often than not.

She shook her head and pushed her way to the head of the bed. She resigned herself to not worry about him. She had had similar feelings so many times, and he was always simply there for her without any question, so she felt the need to return the favor. Being the supposed future queen of the earth, she had had moments where she needed to be alone.

She leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. Darien had opened a window, and the warm spring breeze was blowing softly against her face. It was carrying the scent of flowers: her roses. She sighed wistfully and relaxed as she tried to fall asleep again.

Suddenly, she felt the baby kicking, and she felt a strong pain. It was almost unbearable. She rolled over on her side, and tried to breathe deeply. The pain burned brightly for a few seconds before falling away. Serena rolled onto her back and started at the ceiling as she gasped for breath. She leaned forward, and saw a large wet spot spreading on the bed sheets.

_Oh my god,_ she thought to herself, _my water broke._ Serena panicked for a moment, completely losing her rationality. Darien had just left, and even though the car was still there, she couldn't drive herself to the hospital. Sweat started to form on her face as she felt another contraction starting. She leaned back and tried to breathe deeply as the pain grew and died away.

_This is it,_ she thought to herself as she pushed herself out of bed and made her way to the phone. She picked up the receiver and dialed the number for Darien's cell phone. Hopefully he hadn't gone too far...

As she finished dialing the number, she heard Darien's phone start to ring. She turned her head towards his dresser and saw his cell phone lying next to his watch. She slammed the phone down and silently cursed Darien's awful memory.

Serena opened the drawer underneath the phone and pulled out the phone book. She flipped through until she found the first taxi service she could see and quickly dialed the number. What sounded like an elderly lady answered the phone. Yes, she needed a cab...immediately. No, she didn't care what type of car she would like to pick her up. No, she couldn't wait for a couple of minutes; she was having her baby any minute now and needed to get to the hospital

Serena slammed the phone down and stared at it for a moment. She had always promised herself that when she was having her baby she wouldn't lapse into the whole "get out of my way I'm having a baby here" tactics, but she was desperate, and she had no choice left.

Serena hobbled over to the closet and grabbed her coat. She had left her overnight bag right next to the door, because she knew how great her and Darien's memory were for that type of thing, and she figured the door was the only place she would have to pass by eventually.

She ran over to the dresser and grabbed Darien's cell phone, just in case something happened and Darien forgot which hospital she was headed to. She jammed the phone in her pocket and made her way out into the hall. As she took hold of the doorknob, a shadow darted past the window.

Serena stopped and looked up. For a moment, she thought she saw the figure of a man standing in front of her. In a flash, she saw the face of a young man, a face that somehow seemed familiar. But there was nobody else in the room. Serena was frightened terribly as she looked around the room; yet saw no one. The young man had disappeared.

_Ok, Serena, calm down, _she thought to herself. _You're just freaking out because Darien's not here. He'll be back from his walk soon, he'll see his cell phone missing, and me, and he'll meet me at the hospital. It's all going to work out._

Serena looked around once more and saw nothing. Serena slowly closed the bedroom door; she made her way down the hall, and by the time she made it to the front door, she had forgotten all about the mystery man she had seen.

She grabbed the overnight bag next to the door and headed towards the elevator. As soon as she stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby, she saw the cab pulling up next to the door. She looked around the empty lobby, quickly scanning to see if Darien had returned yet.

She didn't see him anywhere, and she could feel another contraction on the way, so she passed her bag to the waiting cabbie and slipped inside the car. The driver threw her bag into the trunk, a little too carelessly for Serena's taste, and stepped into the drivers seat. He quickly pulled away from the building, and Serena blurted out the name of the hospital without taking her eyes off the apartment building, hoping to see Darien.

"Joshua, there's someone here to see you!"

The woman standing behind the screen door smiled at Loki before turning around and heading back into the kitchen.

Loki looked around the outside of the house while he waited. The blue paint on the from to the house had started to peel away; a problem which, by the looks of the scaffolding rising up to the roof and the many cans of paint littering the lawn, was about to be rectified. The air was cool, but it was still warm for an early spring night. Then light from the moon was pouring over the front yard, and Loki could see the vague outline of several small flower gardens, most of them filled with newly sprouted tulip buds. Loki wished he could see the flowers when they bloomed, but if all went to plan, there wouldn't be any flowers to blossom anywhere.

Loki shook his head and turned back to face the house. He remained standing on the porch, looking through the screen door and into the living room. Josh's mom seemed to be the type of person to over decorate; in fact, if anybody was Martha Stewart's twin, a law abiding twin that is, but similar in any case, it was Josh's mom. Loki could see the many small knick-knacks cluttering every available space in the room.

Loki heard the sound of someone bounding down the stairs inside. He gazed towards the stairs and saw Josh heading for the door with a grin spread across his face. Loki had always thought Josh looked like one of those "Surfer Boys" he always saw on the teen soaps he used to watch. Blond hair, not to long, blue eyes, a great smile; actually, Josh really reminded Loki of Johnny Depp in the beginning of Blow.

It had been about three months since Loki had seen Josh, so he took a moment to notice any changes. It seemed that Josh had grown a little bit, or maybe Loki had just never noticed Josh was taller than him. He was 20, yet his body probably hadn't completely finished maturing. In any case, he stood about an inch taller than Loki now, about 6'2'', which made Loki feel a little jealous. It wasn't very often Loki met someone that was taller than he; he always felt like that was something he had that no one else did.

Loki looked up at Josh. He had let his hair grow, so it was hanging down around his ears. The last of his acne had apparently cleared away from his face, which was now covered with more than one day's stubble. And from the looks of it, Loki guessed Josh had invested in a box of those teeth whitening strips people were going crazy over lately

Josh had reached the door and grabbed the door handle, swinging the door open enthusiastically. He stared at Loki for a moment before the smile quickly disappeared off of his face and was replaced by a mixture of anger and disappointment. "Oh," he said dejectedly, "it's you."

Loki smiled and pushed the door open wider with one hand and stepped inside the house. He saw the door slam shut out of the corner of his eye as he stared at Josh, who had crossed his arms and was staring back at Loki intensely. He was silent as he waited for Loki to speak, his face remaining unchanged. "Can I come in?" Loki asked smugly.

Josh sighed in disgust as he turned away from Loki and headed back up the stairs. Loki followed Josh, but after taking only three steps up, Loki noticed Josh's mom walk out of the kitchen and stand at the bottom of the stairs. She looked up at Josh and asked sweetly, "Josh, honey, aren't you going to introduce me to your handsome friend here?"

Loki could practically hear Josh roll his eyes as he sighed and said, "Mom, this my friend Alex."

Loki glared up at Josh for a moment before smiling and shaking his mother's outstretched hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am, even if Josh doesn't think so himself."

Josh's mom smiled broadly. "And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alex."

Loki raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Josh. His knuckles were white from gripping the railing with one hand, while he used the other to cover his eyes.

"Oh," Loki said, "Josh told you about me?"

"Well, not much" she responded. "Although, he usually doesn't talk about the people he's really fond of."

Josh's mom smiled at Loki again before disappearing into the kitchen. A smile crept across Loki's face as he looked up at Josh, who was looking rather dismal as he started up the stairs again.

"Oh, and Josh?" Josh winced at the sound of his mother's voice.

"Yes, Mother?" he asked bitterly.

"Make sure you lock your door this time." Josh simply sighed, turned and made his way up the stairs. He turned to the left and walked the door at the end of the hall. He reached out and twisted the handle as he slammed into the door with his shoulder. The door shuddered under his weight, nearly coming off its hinges as Josh leaned against it to keep himself from falling to the floor.

Loki could see the metal hinges straining; it wouldn't be long before the metal broke and Josh suffered a serious trip to the floor. Loki glared at in intensely, smiling wistfully as he saw the metal begin to glow with heat. He was pushing to molecules in the metal faster, causing them to heat up and fuse together where Josh's straining had weakened it.

Loki turned and watched as Josh flopped down on his bed, grabbed the remote from the nightstand and flicked the TV on. He dropped the remote, grabbed a magazine from the nightstand next to his bed and started to flip through it furiously. Loki could tell that Josh was trying to avoid looking at him; nobody reads magazines that quickly.

Loki stared at Josh for a moment, waiting for him to say something, but Josh had dropped the magazine and simply stared at the TV screen, trying desperately to ignore Loki's presence. Loki thought he could win this game, yet after five minutes of silence, Loki finally decided to say something.

"Your Mom seems pretty cool, especially with you being..."

"Yeah. Well, that's all well and good," Josh said interrupting Loki, still staring at the TV, "but it doesn't really matter all that much."

Loki just shrugged and sat down in the chair next to the computer and swiveled to face Josh. "Oh, really?" he asked. "Why?"

Josh shifted his gaze from the TV to Loki's generally direction. Loki was pleasantly surprised at Josh's ability to look at someone without seeing them. He stared at Loki for a few moments, and then looked back at the TV. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Loki said with a smile, "I'm certainly not here for the hospitality, or else I would've stayed downstairs with your mother."

"What do you want?" Josh asked sternly as he turned off the TV and glared at Loki, or at least towards him.

Loki sighed. "Why does it always have to be so difficult with you, Josh? I came fro the same reason I always come; I like talking to you."

Josh rolled his eyes and grunted as he pushed himself up off the bed and started pacing back and forth. "No," he said angrily, "you like fighting with me. You show up like this and we argue about the stupidest things until we start screaming at each other and then you all of a sudden get all giddy and drag me out to the closest bar! It's all really quite annoying the way you enjoy it so goddamn much, especially in that you never seem to have anywhere to be or have anything to do, whereas I am busy all the time trying to catch up on all the homework you make me miss."

"Now, you see, I totally didn't start this fight. You started it all on your own."

"No, you started it by being the jerk that you are. You keep provoking me and then you blame me for the fight."

"Oh, calling me a jerk was a low blow." Loki laughed as he bent over and rested his hands on his crotch. He stayed that way only briefly before sitting up and leaning against the back of the chair.

"Tell me," he said, still laughing, "is this fight going as well as you expected it too?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, Josh, I know how you are; you'll imagine having a argument with people for days, or in my case, months, especially after they did something hurtful to you and you think of a million different things you wish you had said. I'm just wondering if the fight was going as planned."

Josh smiled. "Well, if you know that much about me, then you must know that I also considered the possibility that you would say that to me!"

"Hey, if you want to run in circles, I can do that. All I need to do is say that I knew you would know that I knew, and wait for you to add another 'well I knew' on before I add another one on."

"Are you really as telepathic as you make yourself out to be?""

Loki glared at Josh. "Are you really as worthless as you have yourself convinced you are?"

Josh turned away from Loki. He sat down on the edge of his bed and stared at the floor. His face was stricken, and his mind was clouded with thousands of painful thoughts.

"Oh, come on, don't quit on me now. We were just getting to the good part. I know you've got something to say to me.

Josh remained staring at the floor.

"You've been sitting on this one for a while now," Loki continued, "so you must have come up with tons of things to say. Although, after a while you just end up repeating yourself. How long has it been since the last time I saw you? Two months?"

"Three."

"Well, there you go! Three whole months? You must be ready to explode. I know how much strain it's put on your life. I know you haven't been to a single class at college in, what a coincidence, three months. I know what it is you think about doing when you're alone in the car at night; it would be so easy to just let go of the steering wheel and let the car drift off the road, over the cliff and right into the water, wouldn't it? It would look like some kind of accident. No one would blame you for killing yourself. That's the only reason you don't do it; you're afraid of what people would think of you. You're afraid they'll be mad at you. But why? You'd be dead, and it wouldn't matter anymore."

Josh stood up and walked to the window, leaning his head against the glass. "I really don't feel like talking about this with you" he said, fogging up the window with his breath. Loki could see his breath like fog rolling down the glass. For a moment, it almost seemed to Loki like Josh's breath was steam coming from his burning rage.

"Who else are you going to talk about it with?" Loki asked, pushing the subject further.

Josh spun around, and Loki almost gasped at the anger he saw in Josh's face

"Look, if you wanna talk, fine, I'll talk. This whole thing, everything that went on between the two of us, went on because you wanted it to. What we are to each other now was entirely defined by you, because you were the one who had decisions to make. And you made those decisions, and here we are. So if I hear any more condescending tones in your voice, you can shove it up your ass, because you have no right to be disappointed or angry or concerned about me and what I think and what I do. You forfeited that right a long time ago. The only thing you have a right to be feeling now is sorry; sorry for all the pain you caused me, sorry for the state my life is in right now, and sorry for the fact that you left me alone with all this. That's the worst part of it all, and...I can't even find the right words to convey how terrible a thing it was to do to someone."

Loki's face was a mask of calm, hiding his utter shock at Josh's outburst. He just stared at Josh, who was glaring back at him. Loki's gaze fell to the floor. He took a deep breath and was about to speak when Josh interrupted him.

"Oh, no, you don't get to talk. You had three months - three months - to say something and you didn't, so you have no right to say anything now. I don't even want to hear you apologize. Not that you would, because you're never wrong, right? I just don't care anymore. Actually, there is one thing I want to say. For someone who can hear everything I think, you don't seem to be very good at it; because if you really know me that well, you wouldn't have done what you did, because you would know how I would react. If you knew that everything you just said about me would happen, and you still did what you did...you say me calling you a jerk is a low blow, but there are truly worse things I could call you that still wouldn't be enough.

"So as you can see, I'd really rather not talk about this. I might just blow up, and I don't mean figuratively, either."

"I can see that" Loki said quietly. "I just want to make sure you won't blow up from not talking about it."

Josh laughed sarcastically. "Oh, it's my turn to laugh now. Was that sarcasm I heard in your voice? Is it possible that you actually care about what other people feel? Here I was under the impression that you weren't human. But now I guess I can just classify you as an asshole that only cares about people when it's convenient for you."

Loki's gaze again fell to the floor.

"Aw, come on," Josh said as he grabbed the arms of Loki's chair and leaned in close to his face. "Don't quit on me now! We were just getting to the good part!"

Josh's words stung Loki, and they stung all the more because they were his own words thrown back at him. Deep down, in a dark place in Loki's being, a place that wasn't evil, simply dark in a natural way, Loki did revel in arguing with people, especially with Josh. In fact, he had been drawing immense pleasure, almost relief simply in talking to someone and having them rebut without fear. Fenris always feared Loki, no matter how close they became and even before...all this...happened, his friends had always seemed afraid of him on some basic level of emotion. They always held back when they talked to him. Whether it was because of Loki, or if it was just their personalities, Loki didn't know and he didn't care to ponder it anymore.

What mattered at the moment was that Josh was arguing with him without fear of consequence, without fear of emotion. It was Loki's experience that people were generally afraid to get emotional. To allow one's emotions to get the best of them made them weak. But, Josh wasn't afraid of that weakness. He had spent most of his life entrenched in emotion; it went with him everywhere. He had never allowed himself to close his emotions off, the way that most people in this day and age learned to do simply to survive life. He felt that his emotions were what made him human, and for his whole life, Josh had felt apart from the rest of humanity because everybody was so careful with their emotions. What hurt him the most was that people learned to hide their emotions the way they did, and whenever they interacted with Josh, he took everything personally even though nobody meant it that way.

So, when he "realized" all this, he cut himself off from the world almost completely, hoping everybody would notice and start to act differently around him, yet he only made everybody around him feel that he was "just another jerk", in his own words. One of the things Josh is unaware of is that he is a very good actor. Inevitably, he felt as if the world around him was always out of his reach, and his life was meant to watch reality unfold around him without any involvement; it was as if he was only meant to watch life, not experience it.

That was what immediately attracted Loki to Josh. He had met Josh at a bar, not long after his "new life in darkness" began. He was at such a fragile part of his life, and he ran into Josh, who had listened to Loki without listening, indeed, without Loki telling him anything. He had only to look in Josh's eyes to see a sympathy reflected back at him. Josh seemed to have a gift for seeing the pain in people's eyes for exactly what it was, and he always feels sorry for them. Loki had spent time watching Josh watching other people. Their pain, or the pain he imagined them having, spoke to his own, and always in a way that made Josh appreciate what he had and yet evoked sympathy, but not pity.

Josh would never allow himself to feel good about any of this though. His thoughts, while outstandingly considerate and very simply nice in Loki's mind, registered as selfish in Josh's. He had a way of villanizing himself in a vain attempt to make a person he was sympathizing for better in some way.

One of the best things about Josh was that he truly believed that if someone thought better of you, you were a better person. It was as if he believed that if something existed in his mind, then it had a place in the real world. Loki could only laugh at the irony Josh was barely aware of; he felt like he was apart from reality, yet he imagined his thoughts influenced it. Basically, Josh was as self-deprecating as possible; he lifted everyone around him on a pedestal, yet remained grounded himself. Josh reminded Loki of a priest, really, sacrificing his happiness for the good of others. It was actually something Josh had been considering for himself lately, yet he knew, and Loki could only agree, there were far to many reasons why that would never work.

Loki shook his head, needing the physical motion to snap him out of his thoughts. Loki looked up at Josh. Not even a full minute had passed since Loki had fell silent, and Josh had been staring at him the whole time; the gears in his mind had already set to work on sympathizing with Loki, even through his anger, and he was already reprimanding himself for being so 'overly' upset.

Loki did feel bad, and he felt Josh was justified in his anger. For the first time all night, Josh was actually looking Loki in the eye. His eyes were misted over, and Loki could see the beginnings of tears; he knew that Josh liked to cry yet it still didn't feel okay to be the cause. But, the devil in Loki's heart took over, and he enjoyed being mean. It felt so good.

Josh sighed and turned away from Loki. He crossed his arms, then lifted his hand and pressed his fingers against his forehead. Loki saw that Josh was getting a headache, which was strange, because he usually didn't get headaches. It made Loki smile, reveling in the fact that he had such an effect on Josh.

"What are you thinking?" Josh asked as he gazed steadily in Loki's eyes.

Loki laughed and stood up, pushing Josh aside and leaning against the door. "You don't want to know" he replied.

Josh sighed and sat on the bed.

"Listen," Loki said, "we can fight and argue about what happened in the past, but there is nothing you or I can do about it. Well, there is something I could do about it, but it involves stepping outside of time and creating an alternate universe and I don't have the energy to do something like that. Besides, time travel can seriously mess you up.

"All I can really do is apologize for how you feel about it all. I can't apologize for what I did, and I won't. I did what I did because that's who I am, and if you don't like it that's too bad.

Josh remained silent.

"So, just let me ask; you know now what I'm like...do you still want it?

Josh stared at the floor for a long moment before looking up at Loki, his eyes brimming with tears. "Yes" he said as a tear fell down his face, "Yes and yes and yes, I want it.

"I want it with the burning passion of a thousand suns, I want it. Don't ask me to explaining it, because I don't understand it myself. Even after all the pain you caused me; after everything I put myself through, after all the blaming I did, after all the things I convinced myself about you...I would do it all again. It's so strange hearing myself say it, because I spent so much time hating you and hating myself. But it was worth it.

Loki stared at Josh. He was staring at the floor, the tears still in his eyes, and he started chewing his nails...something he always did when he was trying to get something off his mind. Loki felt something inside; he wasn't sure what it was. At first, it was utter hatred of himself for causing Josh so much pain. Then, it was regret for what happened, and finally Loki could feel the irrepressible urge to take it all back and try to get back what the two of them had.

But, his mind took over his heart, and he realized that what they had would be lost forever. Neither one of them, especially Josh, would never be able to forgive one another. Loki knew Josh would try; he would try so hard, yet he just wouldn't be able to trust Loki ever again, and Loki understood that completely.

Loki was about to leave. He thought it was the respectful thing to do, yet there was still one question plaguing Loki's mind. He tried not to ask it, but if they were being brutally honest with each other, then this was the only time he could ask such a question.

Loki moved to the bed and sat down next to Josh.

"So," he said, staring at the same spot in the floor that Josh was, "was I really worth all that? Really?"

Loki turned his head to look at Josh, and he saw another tear streak down his face. Josh looked up at Loki and said, "You _are_ really worth it."

Loki could feel tears rising in his own eyes now. He stood up and moved towards the door. As he reached for the door, he heard Josh jump up from the bed.

"Wait," he heard Josh say, "Please, wait."

Josh reached out, grabbed Loki by the arm and spun him around.

"Every time I look at you, beyond what you do and say, there's always this huge - thing - and I feel as thought it's crushing you. But you never mention it, except in these small, off handed ways. Please, I want to help you. Let me help you. Don't shut yourself out from me; you do it all the time. I worry about you. Amidst everything else I feel, that's what I feel the most. At the strangest times, I'll stop and worry about you. It's as if... I don't know...it's as if I know you're doing something I should be worried about.

"Actually, I was really creepy, but I was worrying about you the other night when that convenience store was being robbed. Did you hear about that? Well, I don't know why, but that night, before I even heard about the attempted robbery, I was worrying about you. I mean, I know you weren't there, but from what the news said, I started worrying about you around the same time it all happened.

"By the way, what do you make of that whole thing? It sounds really creepy to me; the witnesses say that some guy dressed all in black came in and killed all of the robbers. But, not only did he kill them, he used some kind of 'super powers' to do it. The witnesses swear by it. It may sound crazy, but you should have seen one of the guys. Apparently, it looked like one guy was dropped out of an airplane, and one guy was found crucified five blocks away in his apartment.

"It all seems pretty sadistic to me. I mean, what right did that guy have to kill the robbers, even if they were murderers?

Josh sat down on his bed and looked up at Loki. Loki remained silent for a long moment, before he turned around and headed towards the door with his outstretched hand reaching for the handle.

Josh leapt out of his bed and rushed towards Loki. "Wait," he said hurriedly, "where are you going?"

Loki hesitated, and turned around to face Josh. "I...have to go now."

Josh's face was filled with shock. "Why? Was it something I said? Look I'm sorry I changed the subject when we were being serious, I just..."

"No, it's not that. I just have to go." Loki started to turn around, when Josh grabbed him by the arm pulled him sharply towards himself. They stood together, face to face, and Loki could feel Josh's breath on his face as Josh leaned in and kissed him.

Loki felt Josh rest his hand on his chest. He could feel the heat of his body pressed against his own, and his skin tingled as Josh's hand slid up his chest and cradled his face. Loki began to return the kiss, and for a moment, a brief shining moment, Loki succumbed to an unbelievable surge of passion and peace at the same time. A feeling of almost blissful happiness washed over him for a moment, and the world seemed to grow brighter.

Flash of a gun; a woman screaming; blood everywhere.

Loki's eyes snapped open, and he pulled away from Josh. Loki gasped for breath as terrible images from his past flooded his mind. He could hear Josh speaking, but he sounded so far away. He couldn't make out what he was saying, but it sounded hurried, almost frantic. His vision started to blur, and the room was spinning.

"I really have to go now," Loki said as he pushed the door of Josh's room open and stumbled into the hall.

"Please," he heard Josh say, "I need you here, and I think you need me too. I'm really worried about you. Sit and talk with me, and I'll try to help you. I want to help you."

"I can't," Loki said as his mind cleared slightly, his breath returning to him. "I can't because none of it matters anyway. I want it all to stop, Josh, and I know that you want it to stop, too. I know that if you could just make all the hurt just go away you would. Well, I think that I found a way to make that happen. No, I know I found a way. I can make it all go away...all of it.

"Loki, you're scaring me. You talk as if you're about to do something terrible."

"I am, Josh. But don't be afraid. You shouldn't be afraid, because I'm only doing what has to be done. It has to be done.

Loki made his was down the stairs, with Josh rushing after him, begging him to stop.

"Loki, don't go. I'm really worried about you. What are you going to do? Will I see you again? How long are you going to avoid me this time?

Loki pushed open the front door and, stepping off the front step, made his way down the driveway, towards the street.

The air was filled with a fog that had rolled in from the ocean. It was heavy, and everything was damp. It seemed to swallow Loki, enveloping and making him disappear completely.

"Don't worry about me," Loki said from the fog. It sounded to Josh like he was standing right next to him, whispering in his ear. "And don't worry about seeing me again. I promise you, we'll meet before it all ends. And I promise I'll make it all better for you."

With that, Loki completely disappeared. Josh could see the light from the street lamps, but he couldn't make out anybody moving on the sidewalks.

Josh stepped out of the house and sat down on the top step of the porch. He ran his hands through his hair roughly and let his head drop. He reached up and wiped at the tears flowing down his face, cursing himself suddenly for being so emotional. He always hated being emotional, because people always made fun of him for it.

Josh heard the door open and shut loudly behind him. He turned and saw his mother standing in front of the door looking down at him. He looked away hurriedly, trying to hide his tears.

He felt her sit down next to him. Again, he wiped fiercely at his tears and sniffed loudly. He sighed suddenly, and his shoulders sunk lower, as if he wanted to retreat inside his own body from embarrassment. He continued staring into the fog, hoping to see Loki there, hoping to see him walking towards him, hoping to see that stupid grin on his face. He hoped he would stay with him and be with him.

But he wasn't there, and Josh realized he might never be. Loki didn't want to be there. Loki didn't really need Josh as much as he needed Loki.

Josh suddenly felt the weight of his mothers arm slide across his shoulders, her hand tightly clasping his arm. He shut his eyes tightly as the tears threatened to flow again. She leaned against him, yet he remained rigid, refusing to allow himself the comfort she was offering. "It's okay, sweetie," she whispered so quietly Josh could barely hear her. "It's not your fault."

She was wrong, and Josh knew it. He blamed himself entirely for what happened between the two of them, everything including tonight. He should have found a way to make it work. But now, his peace of mind disappeared as surely as Loki disappeared into the fog. His mind was clouded with guilt, and Josh didn't know how to lift the veil of dread and despair.

"It's all going to be okay," his mother said to him quietly.

_No it's not,_ Josh thought to himself. _Something bad is going to happen, and I can't do anything about._

"Jupiter, we've all been through this in our own minds, we all know what it's like. But this isn't the time, nor the place."

Venus looked down at the sullen Jupiter. She was still sitting on the curb: her head down, and her hands resting on the pavement.

The monster that had attacked them was still trapped underneath the telephone pole, but it's twitching had grow more fervent, and Venus feared it would escape soon. She knew she could not handle the thing on her own. In all honesty, she and Jupiter had barely been able to handle it together. They were simply trying to keep the monster from doing any major damage until Mars arrived to change the damn thing back into a human.

The entire processes of defeating these things became extremely annoying when they all found out these monsters were actually transformed humans. With the first monster they had no idea, and therefore they simply could not be held responsible for the death of the poor waitresses. In all actuality, it wasn't even one of the scouts that had done it; well, that was essentially the truth because they never really found out who that "Sailor Moon" was

In any case, the second monster was a whole different story. The girls had naturally assumed that Serena would be able to heal the monster with her crystal, but much to their shock, it didn't work. The best thing Venus could have guessed was that Serena's energy was just too wrapped up in the baby she was carrying.

However, according to Raye, who "came out" as a Witch the day after the first monster appeared, all of these people were being transformed with an ancient magic, and the only way to break the "spell" was with magic.

Effectively, the whole ordeal classified as the weirdest experience in Mina's life, and as a Sailor Scout, that meant a lot.

"Don't call me that," Jupiter said quietly. Venus turned and looked down at Jupiter in shock.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Jupiter stood up and glared at Venus. "Don't call me by that stupid name, ok? I'm a person and I already have a name, it's Lita. So how about dropping all this 'Sailor Jupiter' crap and just use my real name, ok?"

Venus stared at Jupiter, astonished at her anger and surprised at the sudden outburst of emotion at something so unimportant. They had always called each by their "scout names", so to speak, and it had never been mentioned that it was unacceptable by any of them.

Venus sighed. "Jupiter, what is your problem? What is going on? Where did all this come from?"

Jupiter glared at Venus, saying nothing.

"Oh, wait, I'm sorry," Venus said bitterly, "Lita."

Lita ginned slightly, "Thank you, Mina" she said as she tilted her head sarcastically

"You want to know what my problem is?" Lita asked. "Think about it, Mina. Let's review what's happened just in the past week. Serena almost died, we killed an innocent girl..."

Venus glared at Jupiter for a moment before sighing in disgust. "Oh, sorry," Lita replied sarcastically, "We allowed an innocent girl to die. I keep forgetting to phrase it correctly. But beyond that, we discover Raye is a broom riding, spell-casting witch; my restaurant and my car are blown up; and that's just in the last week! Shall we go over the whole tirade that has been our lives for the past ten years?"

Lita moved forward and grabbed Venus by the arm, twisting it slightly so Venus would turn and look her in the face. "Mina," she said angrily, "how is it so hard to believe that I'm in such a mood? I 'm so sick and tired of us not talking about this even though we all want to. This is bothering all of us, but because you all think there's nothing we can do about any of it, you just bury it deep inside yourselves and assume everybody else is doing the same. Well I'm not going to stand for it anymore. Either we all start making some changes, or I'm out."

Lita released Mina's arm and stared at her in expectation. Mina rubbed her arm where Lita had grabbed it and stared back at her. She had seen Raye and Serena do this "let's-stare-at-each-other until one of us gives" routine a thousand times, and she had always thought it was stupid and childish, so she decided to break the silence.

"Alright," Mina said after a long pause, "alright, I can tell you that I will at least try. But you have to tell me what it is you want us to change."

Lita smiled and placed her hand on Mina's shoulder. "Thank you Mina" she said softly, "I knew you would listen to me."

The sound of tearing metal suddenly ripped through the air. Mina brushed Lita's hand off of her shoulder and turned to face the monster that had just managed to escape the makeshift prison she had been trapped in. The monster rose to its full height, which seemed to be about eight feet, and prepared to attack.

Mina glanced over her shoulder and looked Lita in the eyes. "Well, are you ready...Lita?"

Lita smiled and moved to stand next to Mina. "You bet," she said as the antenna in her tiara began to glow.

Mina and Lita were about to attack when a blue glow surrounded the monster and lifted it into the air. It beat on the force field that had been thrown up around it, howling in fury. Mina and Lita turned to see Amy and Raye standing nearby.

"Took you long enough" Mina said as she walked over to Raye. She was kneeling on the ground, and had started a small fire in the middle of the street. Mina watched as she placed a small urn in the fire and, chanting in some strange language, began to drop strange objects in. Mina peered into the pot and was thoroughly disgusted by what she saw; and the smell coming from the vile pot was enough to kill any bystanders.

"Good God, Raye, what do you have in that thing?" Mina asked in disgust. Raye ignored her as she continued to chant. She was waving her hands over the urn; the air around the pot began to shimmer as the contents of the urn started to churn. Raye raised one hand and began to write symbols in the air with her finger. Flames leapt from her finger, holding the shape of the symbols she was drawing.

Mina heard the monster scream, and she turned just in time to see it break free of the field surrounding it. The thing fell to the ground, landing steadily on its feet and glared up at Mina and the others. She slowly moved towards them, raising her arm and pointing it accusingly at the girls.

A blast of energy leapt from its fingers and sped towards the girls. Amy raised a shield around herself and Raye; Lita leapt out of the way of the attack as Mina lifted her hand and unleashed her own blast of energy. The two beams collided, and the ensuing explosion knocked Mina and the monster through the air, their limp bodies flying dozens of feet in opposite directions.

They both landed roughly onto the ground. Lita rushed to help Mina to her feet while Raye continued her chanting. Lita helped Mina to her feet and they both spun around to face their assailant.

Raye's chanting grew louder, and Mina watched as the monster now trapped inside Amy's shield became more fervent and beat against its prison wildly. She could hear the muffled sounds of its screams.

Mina noticed the thickness of the air around her. Steam was now pouring out of the small urn resting on the ground in front of Raye; it spiraled in large circles towards the figure of the raging monster. Mina began to feel dizzy. Everything around her seemed to glow with a strange light. She felt the air around her begin to swirl, and she hear a strange howling that sent shivers throughout her whole body. She looked down at Raye, who was now holding a large ceremonial knife, one Mina had seen hanging in Raye's temple.

Mina moved closer to Raye. She moved slowly, as if she were trying to walk under water. The images Raye had drawn in the air were burning brightly. As Mina studied them closely, she noticed they were writhing, not in the way flames normally did, but almost as if they were made of something alive; like thousands of ants, the flames crawled through the air. Mina was sickly fascinated by it; it horrified her, but she couldn't turn away.

Raye's hand shot out suddenly and grabbed Mina by the arm. She pulled Mina close, and held her hand over the urn. Mina was suddenly terrified, to terrified even to scream. Raye lifted the knife high and slashed Mina's hand across the palm. Mina screamed in pain and fear, and struggled to free her arm. Raye held her tightly. Her chanting became more hurried, and Mina watched as her blood dripped down from her fingers into the steaming pot.

The symbols in the air suddenly melted together and formed a large sphere. It silently hovered in the air for a moment before tearing towards the monster. Raye quickly looked up at Amy and nodded. Amy nodded back, and shifted her attention back to the monster. She lowered her arm, and the field around the monster disappeared just as the ring of fire came upon it.

The monster screamed in agony as the fire engulfed her. The howling Mina heard in the wind grew louder, and the monster screamed along with it. Mina could see a something rising out of the monster; like living smoke it twisted in the air, yet remaining shapeless. Mina watched as the monster fell to its knees while the smoke remained hovering in the air.

"Mina!" Raye screamed, freeing Mina's hand as the ball of fire hovered in the air, "Get the girl, now!" Mina looked beneath the ball of fire and saw the young girl that had been possessed lying there, unconscious and human again. She ran towards her, ducking underneath the fire and grabbing her around the waist. She lifted the girl onto her shoulders and made her way back towards where Raye was still kneeling.

Mina laid the girl down on the ground, moving out of the way as Amy knelt down next to her. Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she checked the girl's vitals. Mina worried as she looked on, concerned again about the life of an innocent caught up in their battles.

She was, very acutely, feeling exactly what Lita had just been arguing about. Death was something Mina couldn't come to grips with. The very concept of it bothered her; she didn't know why she was so scared of it. She thought maybe it was because she was the reincarnation of a person that had already lived, and it gave her a sort of delusion of what death really meant. She had never really told anybody, but Mina remembered her former life very acutely, and she felt as if she had never really been dead...almost as if she had never experienced it. Still, when she saw these people die, she worried about what happened to them. Mina had accepted the risks of her responsibilities long ago, but for others to unjustly have these risks thrust upon them was completely wrong, and Mina vowed to do all she could to protect these people.

Amy looked up and nodded slightly at Mina, letting her know that the girl was going to be ok. Mina let out a sigh of relief. From what Raye had told her and the others, there was always a chance that in exorcising the spirit these girls were possessed by their own life force might be harmed, or worse, destroyed.

Mina smiled and looked up at Raye. The smile disappeared off her face as she saw Raye still kneeling in front of the small urn with her eyes closed and her brow furrowed in concentration. Mina felt Lita's hand on her shoulder, and heard her say, "The battle's still going on."

Mina looked up at Lita's face, and saw her staring in the direction of the ball of fire. Mina followed Lita's gaze and saw the ball of fire hovering in mid-air, but it was still filled with a black smoke. Mina watched as the smoke inside the ball writhed and twisted. Slowly, it began to take the shape of a person. Mina squinted her eyes as she tried to make out any defining characteristics. She saw a face begin to take shape in the smoke.

Mina gasped in horror as she realized the figure she saw hovering inside the ball of fire was nothing less than a devil. It was no more than three feet tall; bald head, pointed ears. Its beady eyes were completely black. The thing was grinning madly; its teeth were jagged and crooked.

"Is that what I think it is?" Mina heard Lita screaming over the wind. Mina looked to Raye, who was still deep in concentration.

"Listen to me," Raye said, her eyes still closed, "I know what you're all thinking, and I will explain, but right now I have to concentrate on banishing this thing."

"And just how do we do that?" Lita asked with her eyes locked on the beast.

"Easier than you think" Raye whispered. Had Mina not been so close, she wouldn't have heard Raye's response, because before the words had even passed her lips, the sound of the creature's howling tore through the air.

Mina looked up at the ball of fire and saw the creature clawing at the flames, it's face twisted in unearthly rage. Again and again it pounded its fists against its prison, yet as it soon noticed Mina's gaze, and it stopped its desperate attempt at freedom. The thing glared at her now; a smile spread across its face. She tried to turn away, yet her body was completely frozen.

The world around her melted away; all she could see was its eyes. Mina could feel a terrible fire burning inside this thing, and it was reaching out for her. She heard a sound like nails running across a chalkboard and her mind filled with blinding pain.

She couldn't think of anything but the pain; every second seemed like an eternity. She desperately tried to overcome the pain, to overcome the thing's grasp. Suddenly, it seemed the whole world was filled with a brilliant light, and the pain stopped. Mina fell to the ground crying out in relief as much as anguish.

The wind was whipping Mina's hair furiously. "Mina!" she heard Raye scream her name over the wind. Mina looked up to see Raye hovering over her, her eyes filled with concern. Mina reached up and grabbed Raye's arm. Raye's eyes softened a little, and she helped Mina to her feet.

"Are you OK?" Raye yelled loudly.

"I'm fine," Mina yelled back. "What was that thing doing to me?"

"It was trying to possess your body, the way it had possessed that girl. "

Mina's entire body was stricken with panic. She had seen what these poor girls had been capable of, and they were just ordinary humans. Her blood ran cold with the thought of what she, as a Sailor Scout, would be capable of if she were possessed by one of those things.

"Is Mina OK?" Mina turned to see Lita and Amy standing next to herself and Raye. Lita was carrying the young girl that had been possessed in her arms. Mina nodded her head, but stopped when she noticed the looks on both their faces.

"What's wrong?" Mina asked, looking from Lita and Amy back to Raye. Like a blow to the head, it suddenly occurred to Mina that if the beast had been destroyed, there was no reason for the wind to be blowing so violently.

Mina followed everybody's gaze to the middle of the street, where the beast had been trapped in Amy's shield. The asphalt of the street was scattered and broken, and a gaping hole now took up most of the street. But it wasn't the hole that concerned Mina.

Inside the hole, Mina could see what looked like a raging fire; the air above the pit was steaming, and the air stank of sulfur. As Mina stared at it, she could almost make out shapes moving writhing in the flames.

"What the hell is that?" Mina asked as she turned to face Raye.

Raye shifted her eyes to the ground. "Actually," she heard Raye yell over the wind, "you just answered your own question."

It took Mina a moment to understand, but when she did, her eyes grew wide and her entire body tensed. She looked to Amy and Lita, and saw that they were experiencing the same feelings. The wind was still beating against their bodies, but it now carried with it the unmistakable sound of agonized howling.

"Are you telling us," Lita yelled, practically screaming, "that you opened a gateway to Hell in the middle of Downtown Tokyo?"


	8. Chapter 8

_For those who ask many questions:_

_Here is Chapter 7, what I have written of it. There is more to be written (I also have part of Chapter 8 half written). This story is bound to change drastically, if I feel the desire to continue on. For those who really want to know, I have the whole story mapped out. If you just want to know the rest of the story (it's quite long), just let me know, and I'll just tell you what I had planned. I would never want to leave someone hanging. But, all that aside, I will try my best to write more. Consider these 3000 or so words a promise to try, but I guarantee nothing._

_Tbanks Butta, for your interest. You are nothing if well timed:)_

The air was damp, but the warm summer's breeze staved off any chill Darien would have felt. It wasn't very late, maybe just past two in the morning. No, not very late at all; at least, not for someone Darien's age. Most people Darien's age were out partying. Friday night, middle of the summer: prime time for a night out at a bar with friends.

Darien could hear the music from the bar thumping from a block away. He had been walking for about a half-an-hour. His occasional restlessness had recently gone from a once-in-a month occurrence to a nightly regularity. He usually kept to certain area; a walk to the nearby park, a few loops around the track, and the long way home around the back of the apartment building. The whole thing usually took Darien about an hour. He actually liked the exercise he got; he rarely had the time to jog in the mornings anymore, and he wasn't old enough yet to need more sleep to survive during the day without a nap.

But tonight, he needed something to get his mind off of the terrible nightmare he had had, and being by himself with nothing but his thoughts didn't sound appealing, so he walked into town, hoping to find a noisy place to lose himself in.

He stopped outside a noisy bar, pausing to feel the vibrations emanating from inside shake his body. He looked around, taking in the sights around him; a young couple leaned against the building, feverishly making out with each other; a burly bouncer stood with his arms crossed in front of the door; several individuals were gathered on the curb, smoking their cigarettes and chatting noisily; a group of guys standing around the hunched over figure of another young man who seemed to be vomiting up what seemed to be everything he ever ate in his lifetime.

Bits of trash that were caught by the wind tumbled through the air, the sound of sirens flying through the streets, the smell of stale urine wafting from the alley, and the sight of several individuals lying on the ground, leaning against the overflowing dumpsters. It took Darien only a moment of consideration – a very fleeting moment – before he made his way across the street and away from the club. Darien had never been one to go to bars like that. Frankly, he didn't understand why anybody would pay to go into a place where your ears are pounded on with terrible music, paying obscene amounts of money for drinks that make you say and do things you would never normally do, including vomiting from what seems like the depths of your being, hitting on girls that have slept with practically every other guy there, and putting up with every asshole who has a "problem" with you.

He sounded bitter, but that was only because he _was_ bitter. In all actuality, Darien never went to bars because he never had anybody to go with. He assumed people put up with all those things because they were with their friends, and they had fun just being with each other.

Darien had tried to get Serena and the girls to go out to a bar with him. In the years it took the girls to reach the legal age limit to get into a bar, Darien had planned out every aspect of their fantastic night out. It didn't work out exactly as he planned. Far from it.

Beyond the fact that it took forever for them to all clear a spot in their busy lives to go, they took almost as long to decide which bar to go to. Once they got there, people mobbed Mina; Lita kept complaining about the cleanliness of the particular establishment; Amy was too worried about her exams to relax and Raye kept falling asleep from exhaustion after working for days on end. But that wasn't as bad compared to what Serena did. She got drunk; and not just a little drunk, she got _really _drunk So drunk that she started vomiting blood before they rushed her to the hospital for a stomach pump.Needless to say, the event had left a feeling of unease amongst them, one that was too overwhelming to attempt another go at it.

But Darien still wanted to go. At least, he thought he did. He thought it was the normal thing to do; he thought, maybe if he weren't so screwed up, he would have friends that he could have a good time with, worry-free.

Darien felt his chest tighten; he thought about his past, feeling sorry for himself because of his lack of friends for most of his life. _No,_ he thought to himself, _I will not allow myself to fall into that again._

He had a problem with depression, which wasn't surprising, seeing as his parents died when he was just a boy, and he spent his entire life living in an orphanage because nobody wanted to adopt him. He spent his childhood years desperately trying to make friends, to feel like he belonged somewhere. He still remembered when people would visit the orphanage. It didn't take him long to realize that if these people liked you enough, you got to leave with them, and go off to a better life somewhere. He tried everything he could think of to get those people to like him, but they never did.

Eventually, he gave up trying. He spent his teenage years a social reject; a recluse. He didn't do anything more than what was required of him, be it school or chores at the orphanage. He was cold, and hard, but he couldn't be hurt, anymore than he had been. Nothing could pierce his icy exterior, and nobody tried. And until he got a job and started providing for himself, things stayed the same. There was no one in the world that could or would do it for him, and he finally realized that if he didn't take the time to help himself, he would stay like that forever.

When he thought about it, his life took a drastic upward turn after he got a job and left the orphanage. It was only shortly after that that he met Serena, and he finally found his place in the world, and people to love who loved him back.

But he took a moment to realize things could have turned out a lot worse than they did. If he had made friends at the orphanage, he probably would have ended up in jail, or, more likely, dead. Most of the kids he knew from the orphanage either joined a gang and robbed convenience stores or got into drugs, selling _and_ using.

But he had to wonder what his life would have been like if his parents hadn't died. What would a life of love and encouragement have meant to him? How would it have affected his life? One of the most confusing things about his life was what would have happened if things hadn't gone the way they had. His biggest concern was obviously whether or not he would have met Serena.

Had Darien not met Serena, would he still have turned into Tuxedo Mask to come to her rescue, and so on? If he hadn't, he was almost positive that the Earth would be nothing but a smoldering ruin now. Not that he was over-playing his importance, but he was downplaying Serena's abilities, at least when she first became Sailor Moon. He was perfectly aware that his wife could hold her own in a battle now, but back then, she had a knack for getting into deadly situations and not having the courage to get out of them herself.

But that was over. He was here, immersed in the real, and not trapped in his own personal hell.

Darien looked around; he had walked all the way downtown, and was now standing outside what looked like a jazz club. A smile burst across his face; Darien _loved_ jazz. Most of his friends, especially the Scouts, would agree that Darien was a romantic. His battle garb was a tuxedo, and his weapons were red roses. It was mind-boggling how much of a romantic he was. And jazz was the ultimate in romance.

_Mavor's Bistro and Bar_; it was a strange name, but that was par for the course for any jazz club worth going to. He stood outside, gazing in. The lights inside were dim. The stage was up against the far wall; it was a simple wooden raiser, a foot high, surrounded by small tables, each with it's own candle burning beneath a single white rose.

The stage was filled with instruments, but was lacking in people to play them. Darien hoped he hadn't missed the performance, because he could really use a jazz session. It always made him smile, and he knew this would be no exception, especially since leaning against the wall was a beautiful stand-up bass.

Darien lingered outside for a moment, gazing intently at the bass, hoping that this wasn't just some vision of beauty, that his imagination hadn't run off, producing his greatest desire, this perfection of a club at the behest of some hidden whim.

_Jesus,_ Darien thought to himself. _Get a grip. It's a bar, not a cosmic sign, and not a figment of my obviously overactive imagination._

Darien stepped into the bar and made his way towards a boothThere weren't many people around, so he hoped that he could steal a booth for himself. It was two in the morning. If he didn't have to sit in a hard chair he wouldn't.

He slid into a booth and looked around. There no more than twenty people lingering in the bar. Several people were outside on the deck, drinking their martinis and laughing with each other. There was a couple sitting at the bar, speaking to each other in hushed whispers, touching each other gently and laughing softly. The rest were in the far left corner; five of them, four men and a beautiful woman, all leaning against the walls with drinks in their hands. The men were wearing black suits, starched white-collar shirts and black bow ties. The woman was absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing a beautiful red sequined dress, strapless and sleeveless, and she had long red hair that draped down across her face, covering her right eye completely, and she was wearing long purple gloves that reached up past her elbows.

None of that mattered the second she started singing.

The air was suddenly filled with the utter beauty of her voice softly carried along by the sound of the instruments. Darien was thrown into a world of sheer ecstasy; tears were hovering in his eyes. Again, it seemed almost as if this place was meant exactly for him; right here and right now, his and his alone.

The waitress returned and placed Darien's drink in front of him. He barely even noticed he as she sighed and walked away. Had she said something to him? Darien hadn't been listening. He wondered why she didn't ask him to pay for the drink, but it didn't matter. She would probably just catch him on the way out.

He returned his attention to the music. They finished their first song and the crowd, if it qualified as a crowd, clapped softly for a few moments before the band began to play again. Darien recognized the song; "Polkadots and Moonbeams", one of his favorites, and their rendition was amazing. It was an easy song to screw up; Darien had heard terrible versions of the song before, but whoever these people were, they were good.

Again, he was so focused on the group that Darien didn't even notice somebody standing next to him. He looked up and saw a young man, about twenty years old with strawberry-blond hair, looking down at him. Darien was startled by the young man's presence. Usually he wasn't a jittery person; his "after-hours" persona had worn away the edge of his nerves a long time ago and had honed his senses enough that he was rarely taken off-guard. But this guy had managed to sneak up on him.

The bar grew rather quiet suddenly as the bassist began his solo. Darien smiled nervously at the young man and shifted looked his gaze back towards the stage. Darien began to feel rather awkward as the kid continued to stare at him; and Darien knew he was still staring, because he could feel the kid's eyes burning a hole in the side of his head.

"Excuse me," Darien heard the kid say softly.

Darien looked up. "Yes?" he asked politely.

"Is someone sitting here?" the kid asked as he pointed at the other side of the booth Darien was sitting at. Darien glanced around the room, noticing that most of the tables and booths in the bar were empty, and looked back to the kid, smiling.

"Not really…" Darien replied.

"Do you mind…?" he asked, gesturing again to the seat.

Darien stared at the kid for a second before shaking his head. "No, go right ahead."

"Thanks," he kid said as he slid into the booth. He rested his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. He looked longingly at the band for a moment and then returned his gaze to Darien. Redhead smiled at Darien and gestured towards the stage with his head.

"Did you figure out who she looks like yet?"

Darien couldn't help but smile. "How did you know?"

Redhead turned and gazed at the stage. "It's what everybody thinks whenever this band plays a gig. Most people have seen the movie, so most people should find her familiar."

He fell quiet, looked back to Darien and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Darien thought about what Redhead said. He only had to think about it for a moment before he realized it. Obviously the look on Darien's face suggested a light bulb had just gone off, because Redhead started laughing loudly.

"Yes," he said, still laughing, "you're right."

Darien snapped his head back towards the singer. "She's dressed like Jessica Rabbit!"

It was so obvious; Darien wanted to kick himself for not figuring it out. "That's amazing!" he whispered softly.

Darien and Redhead stared at each other briefly before they both burst into laughter. They held each other's gaze for a moment before they both turned back to stare at the stage.

"So I've never seen you here before, " Redhead said without shifting his gaze, "Are you new in town?"

"No," Darien said, "I've lived here all my life. I just never knew this place existed."

The band finished the song they were playing and laid their instruments down on the floor. They all stepped off the stage while the singer announced they were going to take a five-minute break.

Redhead leaned back into his seat and turned to face Darien.

"You seem like you're really into jazz," he said, a smile spreading slowly across his face. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe you've never been to this bar, even though you lived here your whole life."

Darien smiled and reached for his drink. "I don't have much of a social life."

"No kidding," Redhead said, a little too sarcastically.

Darien lifted his drink to his lips. He rested the glass against his lips and looked back to the stage. This kid was really starting to bug him.

"I'm sorry," Darien heard Redhead say, "I didn't mean to offend you."

Darien rested his drink back on the table and smiled. "No, it's ok. Really. I'm just...a little sensitive right now."

Redhead nodded slowly. "Troubles with the girlfriend?"

Darien held up his hand, twisting it slowly so that the little light filtering from the bar would reflect off of his wedding ring.

"It's wife, not girlfriend; and no, that's not it. I just really open myself up emotionally when I listen to jazz."

Redhead seemed to find this amusing, evident by the huge smile that remained plastered across his face. "No, that's perfect. You listen to jazz the way it's meant to be listened to."

Redhead extended his hand across the table. "My name is Loki, by the way."

Darien forced a half-smile and took Loki's hand. "Darien. That's a very unique name you have."

The smile slowly drained away from Loki's. He looked suddenly depressed, almost as if he had been disappointed by Darien's response.

Darien laid his drink down on the table and stood up suddenly.

"Where are you going?" Loki asked, obviously surprised.

"I'm not interested in this little back and forth we have going on here," Darien said angrily. "I thought I could come in here and enjoy myself, but you obviously have something different planned."

Loki stood up and rested his hand on Darien's shoulder. "Listen, i'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to piss you off so much. I saw you enjoying the music as much as i do, and i just thought we could talk for a while. I didn't mean to start anything, really."

Darien's gaze shifted from Loki's face, down to the hand resting on his shoulder, and then back to Loki's face. Though Darien hadn't meant it that way, Loki seemed to sense some kind of hostility from the gesture. He removed his hand from Darien's shoulder and stepped away from him.

"I'll leave," Loki said softly as he began to turn away, "you stay."

Darien felt terrible. Loki was just trying to make conversation. And he had said that he opened himself up the way Darien always did when he listened to jazz, so Darien had just done to Loki what he hated having done to himself.

He was going to regret doing it, he knew that even as his hand reached out and took hold of Loki's arm. But he couldn't help himself; that's just the way his personality was.

"No," Darien said softly, "please, stay."

Loki smiled slightly. He backed away from Darien and gestured to the table. He took his seat, and looked up expectantly at Darien.

Darien sighed inwardly, not wanting Loki to be offended by an outward display of his frustration. Darien struggled desperately to overcome the desire to simply leave and go home to Serena. He may not have been tired enough to sleep, but he certainly didn't feel he had the patience to sit around and have his every gesture examined.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Loki asked, with only the slightest hint of hesitation.

"Has that stopped you yet?" Darien asked.

Loki laughed. "Touché."

Darien couldn't help but smile


	9. Chapter 9

_Ok, I'm not sure who's gonna read this. I recently got an email asking when more would be written. Well, it looks like that's not gonna happen. But, I stumbled across this future chapter, and I thought it was pretty cool. So I'll just put it up. _

_By this point, Loki has defeated all of the sailor scouts and kidnapped Darien and the baby. The whole reason I started writing this story was because I had this really cool scene in my head where Serena was giving birth while the scouts were fighting (and losing badly to) Loki. After he trashes the scouts, and they're all lying defeated_, _Loki was going to slowly walk up to serena and steal the baby out of her arms, all the while she was howling in horror. i know, it sounds absolutely horrific. But I wanted that moment, and I wanted to explore how Serena would deal with these emotions. In the Sailor Moon universe, Sailor Moon has this absolutely unshakable belief that fighting gets you nowhere, and that love is powerful enough to overcome anything. While I think it's an amazing idea, and I love that the author really stuck to that, it made me want to see Serena have to struggle with that belief._

_If anybody wants to know what I had planned for the story, email me and I'll explain it to you.  
_

Chapter ??? – Everything in Runes

_Is the concept of knowing everything really so hard to grasp?_

Serena stared into the dark abyss of the cave. She could see nothing past it's opening. There was death everywhere she looked. The trees surrounding the cave were completely dead, and even though it was only late summer here, the air was frigid and damp. Serena could see her breath in the air, soundlessly escaping from her mouth and spiraling up into the sky. The sky was a dark gray; the clouds were like a dome over the Earth, and that, combined with the trees surrounding the cave, made in seem like she was trapped in some sort of prison that seemed to be getting smaller.

This cave, however, wasn't anything new compared to the dozen or so other caves she and Raye had visited in the past few days. They had been everywhere dredging their way through such caves. Peru, Indonesia, Canada, Argentina. The funny thing was, no matter where they went, the caves looked the same every time. Whether it was summer or winter, near the ocean or on top of a mountain, none of it mattered. Apparently every country on Earth did have something in common…creepy caves. Serena had always hoped to travel the world, but these caves weren't quite on the top of any list of must-see landmarks.

She moved closer to the opening of the cave. There were dead leaves and twigs covering the ground, and the only sounds she could hear beyond her own footsteps were the occasional screams from a murder of crows somewhere in the distance. She could feel something was terribly wrong here. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about this particular cave that made her want to abandon all reason and run away screaming in blind terror. It was the same feeling she got when she was home alone after watching a scary movie. She always felt like someone was watching her, following her, and trying to get up the stairs without screaming irrationally was always difficult.

However, the difference between her home and this cave, and when she was home, she knew her fear was almost completely irrational. Here, she had no such reassurance.

"Raye," Serena asked quietly, her voice echoing through the forest around her, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Raye moved to stand next to Serena and gazed into the darkness. "If you're thinking about running away screaming, then yes."

Serena shifted her gaze to Raye. "And you don't think there's something wrong with that?"

"Actually," Raye said as she made her way towards the cave, "that sounds exactly right."

Serena watched as Raye pushed aside the roots hanging in front of the cave's opening and stepped inside. Serena tried to follow Raye, but she found her feet were practically glued in place. Her fear had taken over, and the thought of doing anything but leaving seemed impossible.

It wasn't difficult, however, to overcome this feeling. All she had to do was think of that bastard stealing her newborn child and kidnapping her husband. She could still hear his laughter; she could still see his burning eyes. But what she couldn't see was her newborn child; she hadn't even been able to she her daughter before she was torn away from her. Serena's rage burned hotly for a moment; she could practically feel the air around her warping from her rage. Her entire body was rigid; every muscle taut. Her mind was racing; it felt like the world around her would just explode.

But that rage was just as quickly turned to pain. She hadn't seen her baby, and she was allowed no comfort from her husband, the love of her life. Serena didn't know what was keeping her alive. She had never believed people when they said they didn't know what was keeping them alive, when they could just as easily fall over and die from lack of will to live.

Perhaps it was some small piece of hope keeping her alive, but that seemed just as far away as anything right now. No, Serena knew what was keeping her alive; the thought that her family was in pain, or worse, dead. Because if there was so much as hair out of place on either of their heads…

Serena took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and sighed loudly. She knew she would get nowhere by allowing her rage to consume her like that. She knew where that rage could take her; she had seen it before, and she couldn't let that happen. If she did, God only knew what would happen then. The world may be in trouble now, but if her anger got out of control, the world would never be the same.

Serena followed Raye into the cave. She could smell the damp moldy earth, remembering suddenly that if she could smell it, there were tiny particles of it flying right into her nose.

"Raye, can you please explain to me what we're doing here?" Serena asked through the hand she had just covered her face with.

"Serena, how many times do I have to explain it to you? And here I thought _you_ were the teacher…"

"Come on, Raye," Serena whined, "this stuff is really complicated. I don't think I've ever tried to explain the physics of magic to any of my kids, and they certainly didn't try to teach it to me in university, and at least I'm willing to learn about it."

"Ok, ok." Raye said.

The cave suddenly twisted in another direction, leaving the small amount of light from outside behind them, so Raye lifted her hand into the air and a ball of fire appeared above it. Serena watched the flames lick the roots hanging from the ceiling. The flames shot up towards the ceiling before burning out, filling the cave with an acrid smoke that smelled of burning dirt.

Raye coughed to clear her throat. "What do you know about Norse mythology?" she asked, waving her other hand to clear the smoke away.

Serena thought about it for a moment. "Well," she replied, "beyond knowing that creep Loki took his name from it, not much."

Raye sighed as she continued to move deeper into the cave. "This is why I didn't want to explain it to you. It's really complicated, mostly because there's just so much to explain. But, I'll try to condense it for you."

"The Norse gods from Teutonic Mythology were the gods of the Vikings. You know who the Vikings are?"

Serena nodded her head. "Yes, I at least know about them."

"Yes, well, the head of this particular pantheon of gods was Odin, otherwise know as the All-Father. According to legend, he was not the first of the gods, simply the most powerful. The Norse gods were divided into two groups: the Vanir, the older family of gods representing fertility, and the Aesir, the younger, more powerful family of gods, of which Odin was the leader. The Vanir had ruled the cosmos for an eternity, yet the Aesir were constantly at battle with them for dominance. Eventually, both of the branches grew weary of fighting, a treaty was made and the Aesir attained the dominance they desired."

"In exchange for allowing the Aesir to rule the cosmos, several of the leading Aesir went to live among the Vanir, while a number of important Vanir went to Asgard, the Aesir's home, which was Odin's kingdom."

"Now, Odin was indeed the most powerful of all the Gods. He was the god of magic and wisdom. But like all men with power, he desired more power, and Odin understood that the greatest power one could achieve would be infinite knowledge."

"In his quest for such knowledge, it is rumored that Odin tore out his own eye and cast it into Mimir's well in return for a drink of its immense wisdom. Mimir was one of the Aesir whom had gone to live with the Vanir. The Vanier had apparently felt they had been cheated, so they cut of Mimir's head and sent it back to the Aesir. Odin had resurrected the head and restored it's power to speak, and he placed it in the mystical well, expecting Mimir to guard it."

Serena stopped following Raye. "If Odin was the one who put Mimir there, why did he have to give his eye for a drink at the well?"

Raye looked back at Serena. "I never said it was going to make much sense. Besides, I'm sure there was a reason; I just don't know it. May I continue?"

"Actually, before you start, can I assume that we're trying to find this well guarded by Mimir's head?"

Raye laughed softly. "You're close, actually, but I'll get to that in a minute."

"So, as I was saying, Odin obviously had no problem with self-mutilation in order to attain the wisdom he sought. If he was willing to rip out his own eye, he was quite willing to go a step farther. Now here's where it gets interesting."

"According to Norse legend, the cosmos consisted of a giant tree called Yggdrasil, the most stately tree ever to have grown. Its branches overhung the 'nine worlds' and spread out above the 'heavens'. Personally, I believe the nine worlds represent the nine main ley lines found running through the Earth, and the heavens meant space, but I'll explain that later on."

"Yggdrasil was supported by three great roots: one descended to Jotunheim, the land of the giants, where Mimir's well supposedly stood; the second ended in Niflheim, which was the Nordic underworld; and the last root was embedded near Asgard. One thing I enjoyed reading was that an eagle perched on the top of the cosmic tree was daily harassed by a squirrel named Ratatosk, who brought unpleasant comments and insults up the tree from a dragon that lived in Nilfheim."

"Anyway, in order to gain the knowledge of the runes, Odin actually hung himself from the branches of Yggdrasil for nine days; on the ninth day he died and was resurrected. Now, I know what you're thinking, and this does sound remarkably similar to the crucifixion of Christ on the cross in Golgotha."

"The similarities between Odin's voluntary death on Yggdrasil and the Crucifixion are obvious. Odin was also pierced with a spear and, like Christ, cried out before he died. Most historians believe that even though it's possible that the Norsemen knew about the details of Christ's crucifixion were know at the time that the Odin myth was first recorded, there is apparently little doubt that his hanging on the cosmic tree had pre-Christian origins and derived from ancient pagan worships."

"Most gods weren't really known for being hungry for power. You get cute little fairy-tales with the Greek gods; the Japanese gods were known for their wisdom. Most other gods were known for either fertility or being 'great and terrible'. What really matters, I suppose, is that most religions on the Earth were thought to be all-powerful, meaning there was nothing else for them to know or learn, so they never had to search for more, because they already were everything.

"The Norse were especially known for their hunger for knowledge, for power, though. Why? Of course, it could be that the Vikings themselves were always pillaging and searching to become more powerful themselves. That's what _they_ were known for. But they could have just as easily made their Gods out to be just as powerful. And the similarities between the Norse and Christianity make it only more complicated.

"I know, I'm getting off topic, but I've just spent so much time thinking about all this, and it's just so difficult to come to any conclusions.

"Now, here's where the history books tend to lack in specific detail; what was never discussed was where Odin was retrieving his newfound knowledge after his death. Many speculate that he attained his knowledge from the dead, but that makes as little sense as Odin having to give up his eye to someone he himself appointed as a guardian."

"What I believe is that Odin was trying to attain the power of the Runes. The Runes were ancient artifacts that were said to hold the secrets of the universe. They were located at the bottom of the Well of Wyrd, which was found in Asgard, next to Yggdrasil's root. These Runes were guarded by the Nordic versions of the Greek Fates. They were know as the Norns: Urd, the original fate after which the well's name was derived and the fate of the past; Verdandi, the fate of the present; Skuld, the fate of the future."

"The three Norns were usually described as three elderly ladies, something akin to the witches in _Macbeth_. However, they were also described as three young spinners or three large birds. Actually, most times only Urd was present. Apparently people believed that the past was the most powerful of the three."

"HA!" Serena allowed the short laugh to burst out. It echoed throughout the cave, causing several of its nearly invisible inhabitants to stir about wildly. Raye glared at Serena for a moment, but she said nothing. Serena knew she wouldn't have to explain to Raye why she had laughed; they both realized how much the past had come back to haunt them all in their years together. It was Serena's practice never to underestimate the power of some dark memory from the past you hoped would never resurface.

"Whatever the case," Raye said as she continued, "what was most consistent about the Norns was belief in their tremendous powers, which was maintained throughout Europe long after the arrival of Christianity. It's one of their defining qualities, but it's also extremely contradictory.

"Like I said before, the Norse Gods weren't believed to have tremendous power, and yet here are the Norns, which were said to be brimming with power, so much so that they were barely even mentioned for fear of their wrath. To the Norse Gods, humans were considered nothing more than cattle, things to play with or to torture, nothing to be concerned with. Given the relationship between humans and the Norse Gods, it was only natural for humans to believe that in the sight of the Norns, they were absolutely nothing, completely beyond their notice.

"Do you really believe that, Raye" Serena asked, her words echoing through the cave.

Raye remained silent for a moment, but continued to make her way through the cave.

"Most people would argue that humans represent nothing but a small portion of the history of the Earth, let alone of the universe. I believe I heard that in terms of a football field, human involvement on Earth since it's creation represents about ten yards out of the whole field. Where humans have been dominant for only tens of thousands of years, dinosaurs had rule of the Earth for millions.

"I don't think being among the largest being on the planet really classifies as 'rule of the Earth', Raye." Serena said, interrupting her, again. "If that were true, then the whales rule the planet now."

Raye seethed for a moment. _Who is it telling this story?_ she screamed inwardly. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. She knew that this place had her on edge. Serena had noticed the energy of the cave before she entered it, but she wasn't mystically attuned to the energies of the Earth the way Raye was. Just being here was causing turmoil to her psyche.

Raye guessed that she wasn't the first witch to seek the help of the Norns. The legend wasn't much of a secret, and most witches out there, especially the ones wanting to cause trouble, usually look for a quick way to increase their power, and asking the Norns seems to be the easiest, and biggest, payoff. Well, wishing on a shooting star was more likely to work.

It had taken Raye years of research in order to find where the Norns resided. Not that she was trying to increase her power, like so many hopeful witches before her; it's just that she assumed the time would come when the Scouts had no options left, and the Norns would be their only solution. It was only a matter of time that either Raye would be targeted because of her mystical background, or a witch simply decided to take over the world from Japan; and when that time came, and the Scouts tried to step in, they would need help.

The real problem with the Scouts, from Raye's point of view, was the fact that they only dealt with monsters from the Nega-Verse. Since Raye was told of her…heritage, she had several encounters with other witches bent on destruction of some sort, and she had _no help from the Scouts at all!_ She had assumed that the girls would have noticed the energy being expended in the battles, that Luna and Artemis would be able to sense the threat to Tokyo, and the world, but they didn't.

Raye wondered what the point of saving the world was if you didn't try to save it every time it was in danger? The more pressing question, though, was why they didn't do anything about these mystical threats. Raye simply didn't understand why the other girls knew nothing about the battles she had fought.

She thought, perhaps, that the "Powers That Be" thought she was powerful enough on her own to handle any situations that might arise. However, she had far too many close calls for her to truly believe that. Besides, the only other alternative was much more true; the Scouts simply couldn't begin to stand against these threats.

Serena was proving that now to Raye; no matter how much she explained, magic simply cannot be taught, and it cannot easily be learned. Raye's family worked for generations to learn what little about the ways of magic they had. The only reason Raye was so powerful was because she already had her power as a Sailor Scout, power that she combined with her spiritual side in order to reach the level she did.


End file.
